Solve any word ladder in the fewest steps
A word ladder (Lewis Carroll called them “doublets”) asks you to turn one word into another by changing one letter at a time, with every step a real word: cold → cord → word → ward → warm. This word ladder solver finds the shortest possible ladder between two words of three to seven letters, highlights the letter that changes at each step, and can also make new ladder puzzles for you to solve.
Teachers use word ladders for spelling and vocabulary practice, puzzle fans use them as a daily brain teaser, and setters use a solver to check that a puzzle has a solution of the right length. You can add a class word list or use only your own words.
The dictionary and the search are built into the page, so it works offline once loaded and nothing is sent anywhere.
How to use the Word Ladder Solver
- Choose Solve a ladder, type a Start word and a Target word with the same number of letters, and press Find shortest ladder.
- Read the ladder: the changed letter in each word is highlighted, and the line below gives the number of steps.
- If there is no route, open Dictionary options and tick Allow rare and technical words, or add your own words.
- For a puzzle, choose Make a puzzle, pick the word length and number of steps, then press Make puzzle. The puzzle number lets you recreate the same puzzle later.
- Fill in the middle words and press Check my ladder, or Show a solution if you are stuck. Copy ladder copies the result.
Word Ladder Solver features
Guaranteed shortest
A breadth-first search explores every word one step away, then two, and so on, so the first ladder found is always the shortest possible with the chosen dictionary.
About 24,500 words
Three- to seven-letter words from WordNet 3.1, with common words used by default so ladders stay recognisable.
Your own word list
Paste spelling words to add them, or use only your list — handy for classroom puzzles.
Puzzle maker
Generates a start and end word exactly the chosen number of steps apart, from common words, with a numbered seed so the same puzzle can be shared.
Answer checker
Checks that each of your words is in the dictionary and differs by exactly one letter from the one before.
Famous word ladders
Lewis Carroll published doublets in Vanity Fair in 1879, and head → tail was one of his first, solved in exactly the five steps shown. With rare and technical words allowed, the solver finds a four-step route — a good example of how the dictionary changes the answer. Several ladders of the same length often exist; the solver shows one of them.
| Puzzle | A shortest solution | Steps |
|---|---|---|
| cold → warm | cold, cord, word, ward, warm | 4 |
| cat → dog | cat, cot, dot, dog | 3 |
| head → tail | head, heal, teal, tell, tall, tail | 5 with common words (4 if rare words are allowed) |
Tips for solving word ladders by hand
- Work from both ends: change the target word too and look for a word in the middle.
- Vowels are the bridge — swapping a vowel opens many more words than swapping a consonant.
- Letters already in the right place can still need to move away and come back.
- Longer words have fewer neighbours, so 6- and 7-letter ladders are harder and sometimes impossible.
- For other word games, try the Anagram Solver, the Wordle Helper or the Rhyming Dictionary.
Word Ladder Solver FAQ
What is a word ladder?
A puzzle where you change one letter at a time to turn one word into another, and every intermediate step must be a real word. The goal is to use as few steps as possible.
How does the word ladder solver find the shortest path?
It groups words by patterns such as “c_ld” so that all one-letter neighbours are found instantly, then runs a breadth-first search from the start word until it reaches the target.
Why does it say there is no ladder?
Some words have no neighbours in the common-word list, especially long ones. Allow rare words or add words of your own; if there is still no route, none exists in that dictionary.
Can I add or remove letters?
No. Classic word ladders keep the word length fixed and change one letter at a time, which is what this tool solves.
Is it free and private?
Yes. The word list is inside the page and the search runs in your browser.