A word ladder game with a daily puzzle and a solver
A word ladder starts with two words of the same length, like COLD and WARM. You climb from one to the other by changing a single letter at a time, and every word on the way has to be a real word. COLD becomes CORD, CORD becomes CARD, then WARD, then WARM. Four steps, and you are there.
The idea is simple enough to explain in one sentence, which is why word ladders have stayed popular for well over a century. Lewis Carroll published the game as Doublets in 1879, and it has also been called laddergrams and word golf. The challenge is always the same: find the shortest way down the ladder.
Our version shows the ladder as real rungs. The start word sits at the top, the target waits at the bottom, and each word you add slides onto a new rung in between. The letter you changed lights up, and letters of the target that are already in the right place turn green, so you can see your progress at a glance.
How to play
- Read the two words. The top rung holds the start word and the bottom rung holds the target. Par, shown at the top, is the number of steps in the shortest ladder of everyday words.
- Type the next word. Use the on-screen keyboard or your own keyboard. Change exactly one letter of the word above and press Enter.
- Fix a wrong step. If the word changes more than one letter, is not in our word list or was already used, the row shakes and a short message says why. Undo takes back the last word you added.
- Reach the target. Type the target word as your last step. Finish in par steps to earn Par, or in fewer for Under par.
Stuck? Hint fills in the next word of a shortest ladder from wherever you are, even if you have wandered off the best path. Give up shows one shortest ladder from the start.
Daily ladder and unlimited play
The Daily puzzle is a 4-letter ladder that is the same for everyone and changes at midnight UTC. It is a good two-minute habit, and you can compare step counts with friends. Unlimited deals a new puzzle every time, from 1,500 pairs, each checked to have a ladder of everyday words:
- Easy uses 3-letter words, with par between 3 and 5 steps.
- Medium uses 4-letter words, with par between 4 and 7 steps.
- Hard uses 5-letter words, with par between 4 and 7 steps. Five-letter words have fewer neighbours, so every step takes more thought.
Your progress is saved on your device for each mode, so a refresh does not lose your ladder.
Can you beat par?
Par only counts everyday words, but any real word is allowed as a step. That means you can sometimes finish under par with a word most people would not think of. On the other hand, a rare word can also lead into a dead end with no common way out. If that happens, Hint tells you so, and Undo gets you back on track.
The word ladder solver
The built-in word ladder solver works for any two words of 3, 4 or 5 letters. Type them in and it lists the shortest ladders between them, or tells you that no ladder exists. It prefers everyday words, and only shows ladders with rarer words when nothing that short exists without them. Try PIG to STY, LEAD to GOLD or WHEAT to BREAD.
Strategy that works
Good players change vowels early, because vowel swaps keep the rest of the word intact. They also watch for word families: once you reach a word ending in -ATE or -ILL, the first letter can usually change to almost anything. And when the way forward is not clear, they work backwards. List the words one step from the target, pick the friendliest, and aim for that instead. Most ladders are solved from both ends at once.
Why word ladders are good for your brain
A word ladder asks you to hold a word in mind, try letters in each position and check the result against your vocabulary, all while planning a few steps ahead. It mixes spelling, word knowledge and planning in a way few puzzles do, and a single ladder takes only a few minutes.
More word games
For more letter puzzles, make words from nine letters in Word Wheel, fill a crossword in Word Connect or crack a coded quote in Cryptogram. Hangman and Word Search are good choices for a quicker break.
How to play Word Ladder
- You get a start word at the top of the ladder and a target word at the bottom. Both have the same number of letters.
- Each step changes exactly one letter, and the new word must be a real English word. You cannot add, remove or swap letters around.
- Type the next word on the on-screen keyboard or your own keyboard and press Enter. The letter you changed lights up in orange.
- Reach the target to finish. Par is the shortest ladder we know through everyday words. Match it for Par, or find a shorter way with a rarer word to finish under par.
- Undo takes back your last word. Hint fills in the next word of a shortest ladder from where you are. Give up shows one shortest ladder.
- Daily is the same 4-letter puzzle for everyone today. Unlimited deals a new puzzle at Easy (3 letters), Medium (4) or Hard (5).
Word Ladder tips
Change the vowels first
Vowels are the easiest letters to swap, because most short words have families that differ only in the vowel. CORD and CARD sit one vowel apart, and so do BAT, BET, BIT and BUT. Try the vowels before you touch the consonants.
Look at which letters already match
Letters of the target that are already in the right place turn green on the bottom rung. Leave those alone and work on the others. If a letter has to change twice, you are probably on a longer road than par.
Use common endings as stepping stones
Endings like -ARE, -ANE, -ATE, -ILL and -OLD have long families: CARE, DARE, FARE, HARE, MARE, WARE. Get your word into one of those families and you can change the first letter almost freely.
Work backwards from the target
Ask which words are one letter away from the target. For WARM that is WARD, WART, WORM, FARM, HARM and more. Then aim for one of those instead. Meeting in the middle is how most good ladders are found.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play word ladder?
Start with the top word and change one letter to make a new real word. Keep going, one letter per step, until you reach the target word at the bottom. Try to do it in as few steps as possible. Our par shows the shortest ladder through everyday words.
Who invented word ladders?
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He called the game Doublets and published it in the magazine Vanity Fair in 1879. He said he had made it up at Christmas 1877. One of his own examples turns HEAD into TAIL: HEAD, HEAL, TEAL, TELL, TALL, TAIL.
What is the shortest word ladder from cold to warm?
Four steps. COLD, CORD, CARD, WARD, WARM is the classic answer. Two other four-step ladders use only everyday words: COLD, CORD, WORD, WARD, WARM and COLD, CORD, WORD, WORM, WARM. There is no ladder in three steps, because all four letters have to change.
How does the word ladder solver work?
Open Solver, type a start word and a target word of the same length (3 to 5 letters) and press Solve. It searches every one-letter change outward from the start word, layer by layer, so the first time it reaches the target it has found the shortest ladder. It lists up to 12 of them, using everyday words when they are just as short.
What words are allowed?
Any word in a standard English word list of the right length counts as a step, plurals and past tenses included. Names, abbreviations and rude words are not allowed. Start words, target words, hints and the par ladder only use everyday words, so you never need an obscure word to make par.
Is the daily ladder the same for everyone?
Yes. The daily puzzle changes at midnight UTC and every player gets the same two words that day. Your steps are saved on your device, so you can close the page and come back to finish.
