Word Ladder

Turn one four-letter word into another. Each step changes exactly one letter, and every step has to land on a real word. The shortest route is shown from the start, so you always know what you are aiming at.

It runs entirely on your device: 0 network requests, works offline. No ads, no account, nothing to buy, and no betting, money or prizes of any kind.

1. Focus the board — click it, or press Tab until it is focused.
2. Pick a position with ← and →, then choose a letter with ↑ and ↓. Or click a letter directly.
3. Commit with Enter. If the result is not in the word list you are told which word was rejected, and you stay where you were.
4. Step back with Z if you have gone down a dead end.
5. Reach the target inside the step budget.

How do you solve a word ladder puzzle?

Work on the vowel first. Changing a vowel usually lands on far more real words than changing a final consonant, so it opens the most doors — and a ladder is really a search through a graph where the words with many neighbours are the junctions. Look at the target and ask which letters already match; the ones that differ are your work, and the order you change them in is the whole puzzle.

Is every ladder actually possible?

Yes, and the game knows the shortest one before you start. Puzzles are built by searching outward from the starting word and picking a target the search actually reached, so the pair is connected by construction. The number shown as "shortest" is the true minimum, not an estimate.

Why was my word rejected?

Because it is not in this game's word list. The list is about thirteen hundred common four-letter words, all of which are connected to each other by single-letter changes — words with no neighbours are excluded, because a word you can enter but never leave would be a trap rather than a step.

Does it work offline?

Yes. The word list and the solver are both on your device. There is no server involved at any point.

Is there any money, betting or in-app purchase in this?

None, and there never will be. No currency, nothing to buy, no lives to refill, no wager of any kind.

Can I play it with a keyboard or a screen reader?

Both. Arrows choose the position and the letter, Enter commits, Z steps back, and the chain so far is announced along with how many steps remain.

Four-letter words only, from a list of about thirteen hundred. Targets are placed four steps away, with a budget of the shortest route plus three — enough slack for one wrong turn.

Colour Code is the other game here that rewards backing out of a dead end rather than pushing on.

Bookmark this page (Ctrl+D, or ⌘D on Mac) or install the app — it works offline the next time you need it.