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Word riddles
What four-letter word reads the same forward, backward and upside down?
A word that survives being flipped. Palindromes read the same backward, but this one also has to work when you turn the page over.
What four-letter word reads the same forward, backward and upside down?
Hint: It is a time of day.
Reveal the answer
NOON
NOON is a palindrome, and in capitals it still reads NOON when turned upside down.
How to solve it (spoilers)
How to think about it
- Start with four-letter palindromes: noon, deed, peep, toot.
- Now flip them upside down in capital letters. Letters like D, E and P change shape.
- N, O, S, X, Z and H look the same rotated 180 degrees.
- NOON is made only of N and O, so it reads NOON forward, backward and upside down.
Why “NOON” is the answer
NOON is a palindrome, and in capital letters both N and O look the same when rotated half a turn, so the word still reads NOON upside down. The second condition is what makes it rare: most palindromes use letters that change shape when flipped. The hint about a time of day points straight at it.
Common wrong answers
- DEED. DEED is a palindrome, but D and E do not survive being turned upside down.
- SWIMS. Swims reads the same upside down, but it has five letters and is not a palindrome.
Related riddles
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- What word is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary?
- What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
- What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
- What starts with an E, ends with an E, but usually contains only one letter?
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