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What can you serve but never eat?
A dinner-table word used on a court. Serving usually means bringing food, but the thing in this riddle is served and never eaten.
What can you serve but never eat?
Hint: Think sports.
Reveal the answer
A ball
In tennis and volleyball, players serve a ball.
How to solve it (spoilers)
How to think about it
- Food can be served and eaten, so the answer is something served in a different sense.
- Think of other things we serve: a sentence, a purpose, a customer, a ball.
- The hint says to think sports.
- In tennis and volleyball you serve a ball, and nobody eats it.
Why “a ball” is the answer
A tennis ball or volleyball is served to start a point, so it is served constantly and never eaten. The riddle plays on the sports meaning of “serve” against the restaurant meaning. A prison sentence can also be served and not eaten, which makes it a popular alternative answer.
Common wrong answers
- A prison sentence. You serve a sentence and never eat it, so this works too; the sports hint points to a ball.
- A plate. You serve food on a plate, but the plate itself is not what is served.
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