Word Ladder
Also known as Doublets and Word Golf
Turn one word into another by changing a single letter at a time, and every step along the way has to be a real word. Short ladders look easy until you find the one letter that has nowhere to go.
How it works
- Turn the start word into the goal word.
- Change exactly one letter on every move.
- Each step must be a valid word in the ladder's dictionary.
- Undo lets you step back if a valid word leads to a dead end.
- Submitting an invalid or multi-letter change counts as a mistake. Three mistakes end the ladder.
Good if you want…
- A word puzzle that is really a logic puzzle
- Working backwards from the goal when the start dead-ends
- Something short with a definite finish
How to solve Word Ladder
Count the letters that must change
Compare the start and goal words letter by letter. COLD to WARM differs in three places, so the shortest possible ladder is three moves — and if it is longer than that, some letter will have to change twice. Knowing which letters are already right tells you which ones to protect.
Use vowels as the hinge
Vowels are the most flexible letters in a short word: CAT, COT, CUT and KIT are all words. When a consonant will not change directly, change a vowel first to open up a word where it can. Many ladders that look stuck move again after one vowel swap.
Work backwards from the goal
If you cannot see a way forward, list the words one step away from the goal instead. Meeting in the middle is much easier than walking all the way from one end, and the step before the goal is often the only hard one.
Step back when a path dead-ends
A valid word can still lead nowhere. Undo lets you step back without penalty, so when a branch runs out, go back to the last word with more than one way on. Only an invalid word or a change of more than one letter counts as a mistake, and three of those end the ladder.
Common mistakes
- Changing two letters at once. Every step changes exactly one letter, and a double change counts as a mistake.
- Chasing the goal letter by letter in order. The first letter is often the last one you can change.
- Using obscure words. A step must be in the ladder's dictionary; common words are the safest rungs.
Where Word Ladder comes from
Lewis Carroll invented the word ladder and called it Doublets. He published a series of them in Vanity Fair in 1879, with examples such as turning HEAD into TAIL: HEAD, HEAL, TEAL, TELL, TALL, TAIL.
Word Ladder questions
Can I rearrange letters?
No. Each move changes one letter in place; the others stay where they are.
Does the shortest ladder matter?
Reaching the goal is what counts. Finding the shortest route is a satisfying extra challenge rather than a requirement.
Word Ladder in Winters Puzzles
Word Ladder is one of 40 puzzles in Winters Puzzles, so it sits alongside Word Search, Silhouette, Word Dominoes and everything else in the app rather than being a download of its own. It counts towards your stats and streak like any other puzzle. It also has a published board in Pip’s dailies, with earlier dates available in the archive.
Play Word Ladder.
Free on iPhone and iPad, with 39 other puzzles alongside it. Or play it in your browser — no download, nothing to sign up for.
