# What has one eye but can’t see?

Source: https://silverapuzzles.com/riddles/what-has-one-eye-but-cant-see

A sewing-box riddle built on a single borrowed word. It describes a tiny tool as if it were a one-eyed creature.

**Answer:** A needle.

A needle has an eye that thread goes through.

Hint: Thread goes through it.

## How to think about it

1. An eye that cannot see is not a real eye, so look for things that are called eyes without being organs of sight.
2. Potatoes have eyes, hurricanes have an eye, and needles have an eye. The riddle says exactly one eye, which rules out the potato.
3. A hurricane has one eye, but it is hard to call a storm a “what” that “has” an eye in the sense of an object you can hold.
4. The needle fits every word: one small hole at the top, named an eye, with no ability to see.

## Why “a needle” is the answer

The hole at the blunt end of a needle, where the thread passes through, is called its eye. A needle has exactly one of them and obviously cannot see, so both conditions are met. The riddle borrows the body-part word the same way “neck of a bottle” and “teeth of a comb” do.

## Common wrong answers

- **A potato.** Potatoes have many eyes, not one, so the count in the question rules them out.
- **A cyclops.** A cyclops has one eye and can see with it, which breaks the second half of the riddle.