Turn one word into another one letter at a time, every rung a real word. A new ladder daily in 52 languages. Free, no app, no sign-up.
Word Ladder is Lewis Carroll's Doublets, one puzzle a day. You are given two words of the same length and you get from one to the other by changing a single letter at a time, with every word along the way a real word of the language. Par — the shortest ladder that exists — is shown as a score, not a requirement: any legal chain wins, and you have par plus four steps to find one. Undo lifts a wrong rung back off the board but does not refund the step. A new ladder every day in each of 52 languages, drawn from that language's own word list rather than translated from English, with the full solution verified before the puzzle ships.
Two words, one letter at a time, every step a real word.
From cold to warm in 4 steps.
The start word sits at the top of the board and the goal word is pinned underneath it. Type a word that differs from the rung above by exactly one letter and it joins the ladder; keep going until you reach the goal. The letters never move position and the word never changes length — the only move in the game is swapping one tile for another.
The rules, unchanged since 1877
Par is a score, not a gate. Every puzzle ships with the length of its shortest possible ladder — that is par. You do not have to find it: any legal chain that reaches the goal wins the day, and the endgame shows your route beside the shortest one so you can see where they parted. What you do have is a budget of par plus four. Run past it and the day is lost.
Undo takes the rung back, not the step. A wrong turn is not a dead end: undo lifts the top rung off the board so you can try another route. It does not refund the step, though, because a free undo is just a search algorithm with extra clicks.
A new ladder every day in each of 52 languages — built from that language's own word list, with the whole solution verified before the puzzle ever ships.
Nothing says you have to think forwards. Ask what could come immediately before the goal word — usually only a handful of words can — and you have turned one long search into two short ones that meet in the middle.
Consonant frames are stubborn and vowels are cheap. A swap in a vowel slot almost always lands on another real word, which makes vowel positions the reliable way to travel while you work out which consonant has to give.
Compare the start and the goal position by position. The number of differences is the absolute floor on par — a ladder can never be shorter than that — and it tells you immediately which tiles are already where they need to be.
Par plus four exists because the direct route is often blocked. Changing a letter that already matches the goal, to get somewhere the next step needs, is frequently the only way through and costs you one step out of four.
The step is gone either way, so there is no hurry to take a rung back the moment it looks unpromising. Push one more word out of it first — a rung that looked like a detour is often the pivot the rest of the ladder hangs on.
One word per day. 6 guesses. The classic.
2 boards, 1 keyboard, 7 guesses.
4 boards, 1 keyboard, 9 guesses.
8 boards, 1 keyboard, 13 guesses.
16 boards, 1 keyboard, 21 guesses.
32 boards, 1 keyboard, 37 guesses.
Race the clock. Solve as many words as you can before time runs out.
Find the mystery country. 6 guesses on a paper globe.
Guess the daily math equation in 6 tries.
Swap the 21 tiles so every row and column spells a word. 15 swaps, par 10.
Crown each region — one queen per row, column, and colored area.
A chess puzzle a day. Drag your moves, submit when ready, learn from the colours.
Lay every domino so each outlined region satisfies its rule.
Fill a 6x6 grid with suns and moons — balanced lines, never three in a row.
Draw one line through every cell — numbers in order, walls in the way.
Split the 6x6 grid into rectangles — one clue in each, matching its shape and size.
Name the country from its flag. 6 guesses, one tile at a time.
Fill a 6x6 grid so every row, column and 2x3 box holds 1 to 6 once.
Name the country from its shape alone. 6 guesses.
Name the countries that link two places by land.
The day’s letters, jumbled. Put the word back together in six tries.
Read the clues, rule out the impossible, find the only grid that fits.
هەموو زمانەکان بەخۆڕایین. پێویست بە هەژمار نییە.
لە عەرەبییەوە تا یۆروبا. گەورەترین Wordle فرەزمانە.
مانای هەر وشەیەک دوای یاری فێربە.
هەر وشەیەک لەگەڵ وێنەیەکی تایبەت.
ڕووناک، تاریک و کۆنتراستی بەرز.
PWA — لەسەر هەر ئامێرێک. بەبێ ئینتەرنێت.
بەبێ هەژمار. بەبێ پارەدان.