Word Ladder: Unlimited
Climb from the start word to the goal. Change one letter per rung, and every rung must be a word. Play at 3–6 letters below, or solve, make and print a ladder further down.
How to play
- Type a word that changes exactly one letter from the rung above it, then submit it as the next rung.
- Every rung has to be a real word, checked against the public-domain ENABLE dictionary.
- Reach the goal word to finish. Par is the fewest rungs possible, computed for every ladder.
Solve any ladder
A start, a goal, and any step count or letters you already know — also at its own page, /word-ladder/solver/. Stuck on a scramble or a daily word-guess clue instead? wordsieve.com solves those.
Make a ladder to send
Pick a start and a goal. Your friend opens the link and plays that exact climb, with par worked out.
The two words ride in the part of the link after the #. Browsers never send that part to a server.
Printable ladder sheet
Six 4-letter ladders with a blank line per rung, and an answer key on the same sheet.
Questions people ask
How does a ladder work?
Change exactly one letter per step, and every step must be a real word: CAT → COT → COG → DOG. Par is the shortest possible climb, computed for every puzzle.
Can I go over par?
Yes. Any valid climb wins. Par is there for bragging rights: hit it and the result reads “Par!” with your step count. Undo takes back the last rung.
Why only 3–6 letters?
Measured on the shipped dictionaries: random pairs connect 100%/97%/74%/30% of the time at 3/4/5/6 letters, and fall off sharply past that. Unlimited play offers all four lengths, picked with the length buttons above the board. The solver accepts 6 too, with an honest “no ladder” result when a pair truly has none.