Word Ladder gives you a start word and a target, and asks you to get from one to the other changing exactly one letter at a time. Every rung you write has to be a real word, which is what makes the route worth thinking about. There is one new ladder a day, no limit on how many rungs you use, and a single hint if the trail goes cold.
How to play Word Ladder
The ladder shows the start word at the top and the target at the bottom, with your rungs filling in between.
The editable row is pre-filled with your previous word; tap a square and type to change that letter, or use your keyboard.
Press CHECK to submit. The word must differ from the rung above it in exactly one position, and it must be in the dictionary.
Letters never move: you can only replace one of them, not reorder them or add any.
A rejected word costs you nothing — the row shakes, tells you why, and you try again.
The Hint button adds the next word of a shortest route from where you are to the target, and you get one per ladder.
Reach the target word to finish; your number of steps is then shown against the puzzle's own shortest solution.
COLD to WARM in four steps
Change the D to an R: COLD becomes CORD. Change the C to a W: CORD becomes WORD. Change the O to an A: WORD becomes WARD. Change the D to an M: WARD becomes WARM. Four rungs, each one a real word, each differing from the one above it in exactly one position. Note that CWLD or COLM would be refused even though they are one letter away — being a word is as much a requirement as being one letter apart.
Word Ladder strategy
Work backwards from the target as well as forwards
List the target's one-letter neighbours before you start. If the target is WARM, its neighbours include WARD, WART, WARN, WORM, HARM and FARM, and one of those is almost certainly your last-but-one rung. Meeting in the middle is far quicker than pushing forwards and hoping.
Treat matching letters as fixed
Compare start and target letter by letter. Any position where they already agree usually should not be touched, because changing it means changing it back later. In LEAD to LOAN only the middle and the last letter differ, so the L and the A are load-bearing and the route runs through LOAD.
Change the vowel when you need a new neighbour
Vowel swaps are the most reliable way to find a real word one step away: CAT, COT, CUT and CAT, BAT, BET all work. Consonant clusters are much less forgiving, so if you are stuck on a rung, try each vowel in each vowel slot before anything else.
Look for the awkward slot early
Most ladders hinge on one position that is hard to change — usually the one whose target letter makes an unlikely word. Work out which letter that is and plan the rung where it flips, rather than tidying up the easy positions first and arriving with no legal move left.
Remember the hint only knows common words
The hint's route is worked out over a list of everyday words, while your own submissions are checked against a much larger dictionary. So the rung it gives you will always be an ordinary word, and a shorter route may well exist through something less common that the hint will never suggest.
Frequently asked questions
How many guesses or moves do I get?
There is no limit. You can use as many rungs as you like, and rejected words don't count against you — the result screen just compares your step count with the puzzle's shortest solution.
Can I lose a word ladder?
No. Nothing ends the ladder except reaching the target, so the only question is how efficiently you get there.
Why was my word rejected?
Either it changed more than one letter from the rung above, or the dictionary doesn't recognise it. The message under the ladder tells you which.
Can I change two letters at once, or rearrange them?
No. Exactly one letter per rung, and the other letters stay where they are.
What does the hint do?
It fills in the next word on a shortest route from your current rung to the target. You get one per ladder.
Is there a new ladder every day, and do I need an account?
One new ladder a day, free, with no sign-up. You get one attempt at it and your progress is stored in your own browser, so a half-built ladder is still there if you come back later.