The purpose of this study is to determine to what extent problem-solving skill contributes to the prediction of lateral thinking. The sample of the research consisted of 475 undergraduate students, more specifically 357 female (75.2%) and 118 male (24.8%) students, attending the Faculty of Education at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in Çanakkale, Turkey. The Problem-Solving Inventory -- developed by Heppner and Petersen (1982) -- and the Lateral Thinking Scale -- developed by Semerci (2016) -- were employed in the study to collect data. The descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation) and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the obtained data. According to the findings of the study, the lateral thinking levels of the teacher candidates were high, and their problem-solving skills were at a positive medium level. The teacher candidates' confidence in problem-solving ability and approach-avoidance scores positively affected their lateral thinking levels, on which their personal control scores exerted negative effects. In addition, the participating preservice teachers' total scores of problem-solving skills significantly predicted their lateral thinking scores.