Word Ladder

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Two words of the same length, a start and a target. Change one letter at a time, making a real word at every step, until the start word has become the target. The fewer rungs, the better.

How Word Ladder works

Tap a letter of the last word in your ladder, type the new letter and press Enter. The new word must differ from the one before it in exactly that letter, must be a real word and must not already be in the ladder. The puzzle is solved when you reach the target.

Every puzzle shows its par: the fewest steps any ladder can take. Par is measured over the whole word list, not guessed, so it can always be matched and never beaten. Easy uses four-letter words with a par of three or four, Medium four-letter words with a par of five or six, and Hard five-letter words with a par of six to nine.

You do not have to match par to solve the puzzle. A longer ladder still counts, and the result shows your steps next to par. Undo takes back the last rung, and Hint suggests a step along one of the shortest ladders.

Ways to climb with fewer rungs

• Count the letters that differ. If the start and the target differ in three places, you need at least three steps. A par above that number means the best ladder makes a detour through a letter that is in neither word.
• Vowels are the hinges. Changing a vowel is usually the easiest step. When you are stuck, try every vowel in each position before touching a consonant.
• Keep matched letters. Once a letter matches the target in the same position, try to leave it alone. A detour that breaks a matched letter should be the last resort.
• Work from both ends. Look at the target and ask which words are one letter away from it. If you can reach any of those, the last step is free.
• Plain words make the best rungs. The ladder that sets par always uses common words, so it rarely needs a word you have never heard.

Questions about Word Ladder