How do you play Word Ladder?

Type a new word that differs from the last word in your chain by exactly one letter, then press Add. Keep building the chain with valid words until you reach the target word.

Why was my word not accepted?

A word must be the right length, differ from the previous word by one letter, not already be used, and be on the puzzle's accepted word list. The game shows a message that names the problem.

Does the number of steps matter?

Yes. Your score is higher when your chain is shorter, so a direct path scores better than a long one. The Show a Solution Path option reveals one example route for the puzzle.

Word Ladder Game Online – Change One Letter at a Time

Objective

Change one letter at a time to transform a start word into an end word. Each step must be a real, valid word — the fun is finding the shortest chain of one-letter swaps that bridges two very different words.

How to play

Look at the start word and the target end word.
Type a new word that changes exactly one letter from the last word in the chain.
Keep adding valid one-letter-different words until you reach the end word.

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Playing as

Word Ladder

Change one letter at a time to turn COLD into WARM.

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COLDstart

About Word Ladder

Word Ladder starts with one word and asks you to turn it into another by changing a single letter at a time. Each step must make a valid word of the same length, so you build a chain from the start word to the end word, rung by rung. The default puzzle turns COLD into WARM. It is a playful vocabulary puzzle that rewards flexible thinking about how words are built.

Tips and strategy

Work from both ends. Think about words near the target as well as words near the start, and look for a middle word that connects them.
Compare the two words letter by letter. In COLD and WARM every position differs, so decide which position to change first and keep the others for later steps.
Change the vowel when you are stuck. A new vowel in the middle of a word often opens a fresh family of words you can use.
Each new word must differ from the previous one by exactly one letter, and you cannot reuse a word already in your chain.
Only words on the puzzle's accepted list are allowed. If a real word is rejected, try a more common neighbor.

What it exercises

Word Ladder exercises vocabulary, spelling awareness and flexible problem solving. You search a network of related words, test small changes and plan a route toward a goal, which gives practice in thinking one step at a time while keeping the end result in view.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Word Ladder?: Type a new word that differs from the last word in your chain by exactly one letter, then press Add. Keep building the chain with valid words until you reach the target word.
Why was my word not accepted?: A word must be the right length, differ from the previous word by one letter, not already be used, and be on the puzzle's accepted word list. The game shows a message that names the problem.
Does the number of steps matter?: Yes. Your score is higher when your chain is shorter, so a direct path scores better than a long one. The Show a Solution Path option reveals one example route for the puzzle.

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