Word Ladder
Also known as Doublets and Word Golf
Turn one word into another by changing a single letter at a time, and every step along the way has to be a real word. Short ladders look easy until you find the one letter that has nowhere to go.
How it works
- Turn the start word into the goal word.
- Change exactly one letter on every move.
- Each step must be a valid word in the ladder's dictionary.
- Undo lets you step back if a valid word leads to a dead end.
- Submitting an invalid or multi-letter change counts as a mistake. Three mistakes end the ladder.
The same rules are shown inside the app, on the puzzle’s overview screen — one tap opens the difficulty choice and how to play together, so you never have to go looking for them.
Good if you want…
- A word puzzle that is really a logic puzzle
- Working backwards from the goal when the start dead-ends
- Something short with a definite finish
Word Ladder in Winters Puzzles
Word Ladder is one of 31 puzzles in Winters Puzzles, so it sits alongside Word Search, Word Guess, Hangman and everything else in the app rather than being a download of its own. It counts towards your stats and streak like any other puzzle. It also has a published board in Pip’s dailies, with earlier dates available in the archive.
Play Word Ladder.
Free on iPhone and iPad, with 30 other puzzles alongside it. Or play it in your browser — no download, nothing to sign up for.
