Mini Games · Track 04 of 06
Word Ladder
Get from one word to another by changing one letter at a time. Every step must be a real word.
- Steps
- 00
- Par
- 00
- Hints
- 00
Loading the word list…
Your puzzles
Nothing solved yet. Your results are kept in this browser.
How to play
- Change one letter to make a new word, and add it to your ladder. COLD, CORD, CARD, WARD, WARM: each step is one letter from the last.
- Reach the goal at the bottom. Same length all the way: no adding, removing or shuffling letters, and no word twice.
- Par is the fewest steps there is. Any ladder that reaches the goal solves the puzzle; matching par is the best result.
- Stuck? Undo as many steps as you like, free. Hint shows the next word of a shortest way on; the result and the share text say how many you used.
- Type on the keyboard below or your own, and press Enter. Backspace on an empty row undoes the last step; Escape clears what you’ve typed.
It all stays in your browser
The game runs inside this page and works offline once you've played it. Your best score is kept in this browser only: there are no accounts, no leaderboards and no ads, and nothing you do here is sent anywhere.
Questions
- What’s par?
- The fewest steps any ladder can take from the start word to the goal, worked out over the whole word list. Any ladder that reaches the goal solves the puzzle; matching par is the best result.
- Is there a new puzzle every day?
- Yes, at midnight where you are. Monday to Thursday use 4-letter words and Friday to Sunday 5-letter words, and the week gets harder as it goes. You can play any earlier day from Your puzzles.
- Why was my word refused?
- It has to be in the word list, differ from the word before by exactly one letter, and not already be in your ladder. The list leaves out a few rude words, and very rare words are accepted but never used for puzzles or hints.
- Where do the words come from?
- From ENABLE, a public-domain word list, with SCOWL (Spell Checker Oriented Word Lists) marking the common words the puzzles and hints use. Their notices are at miscdisc.app/licenses/README.txt.
- Where are my results kept?
- In this browser, on this device: each puzzle’s best ladder and any ladder in progress. Clearing the site’s data resets them. Nothing is sent anywhere.