Word ladder solver
Change one letter at a time. This page finds the shortest chain of ENABLE words between your start and your end.
Find a ladder
The ladder will show here.
What a word ladder is
A word ladder, sometimes called a doublets puzzle after Lewis Carroll, is a chain of real words. You begin with one word and finish with another. Every step changes exactly one letter, and the length never changes. COLD can become CORD, then CARD, then WARD, then WARM. You may not rearrange letters, add one, or drop one. That is what separates a ladder from an anagram. SILENT is an anagram of LISTEN because the letters move. A ladder keeps every position and alters only one of them.
This solver searches the same public-domain ENABLE list as the rest of the site, about 168,000 English words. It keeps the words that match the length you typed, from three letters through six. The search is a breadth-first walk: from the start word it tries every one-letter change that is still in the dictionary, then the changes from those words. The first time it reaches the end, that path is a shortest ladder. Other routes of the same length may exist. None is shorter.
Nothing you type is sent to a server. The word list loads in the browser when you press Find ladder, and the path is calculated on this device. If either word is missing from ENABLE, or the two words never meet, the page says no ladder was found. It does not invent a near-miss. Leave max steps blank for the shortest chain of any length. Type 4 and a chain that needs five changes is reported as not found, even if a longer ladder exists.
How to use it
- Type a start word and an end word of the same length, 3 to 6 letters.
- Leave max steps empty, or set a cap if you want a shorter puzzle.
- Press Find ladder. Each tile is one word. The arrow is a single letter change.
FAQ
What is a word ladder?
A chain of real words. Each step changes exactly one letter and keeps the same length. COLD can become CORD, CARD, WARD, then WARM.
Why was no ladder found?
Both words must be in ENABLE, the same length, and between 3 and 6 letters. Some pairs never meet. A max-steps limit can also hide a longer chain.
Which dictionary does this use?
The same ENABLE list as the word unscrambler. The search stays in your browser.
What does max steps do?
Blank means the shortest ladder of any length. A number refuses ladders with more changes than that.