How to play word ladder
A word ladder turns one word into another, one letter at a time. Lewis Carroll invented the puzzle in 1877 and called it doublets. In Rungs, our daily ladder, every word has four letters, and a new ladder comes out every day.
The rules
- Start from the word at the bottom of the ladder.
- Change exactly one letter to make a new real word. Letters stay in place: no adding, removing or reordering.
- Keep going until you reach the goal word at the top.
- Try to finish in par, the fewest steps possible.
Gold letters are already in their final spot. A small dot under a letter shows which letter you changed on that step.
Six tips to hit par
1. Fix letters that already match
If a letter already matches the goal, try not to touch it. Each step should either lock in a new gold letter or set one up.
2. Swap vowels first
Vowels connect far more words than consonants. When you are stuck, try every vowel in the middle positions before anything else.
3. Work backwards from the goal
List the words one step away from the goal. If you can reach any of them, you have your last two rungs.
4. Watch out for dead ends
Words with unusual letter combinations (like Q, X or double letters) often have few neighbours. Avoid them unless the goal needs them.
5. Sometimes go sideways
On longer ladders you may need a step that does not add a gold letter. That's normal: par counts these too.
6. Use Undo freely
Undo has no penalty. Only the final ladder counts, so test ideas and step back.