What is a word ladder?

A word ladder is a puzzle where you turn one word into another by changing a single letter at a time, and every step along the way must be a real word.

Lewis Carroll invented the game in 1879 and called it "doublets". He posed pairs like HEAD to TAIL: HEAD, HEAL, TEAL, TELL, TALL, TAIL. It has gone by many names since (doublets, laddergrams, word golf) but the rules have not changed in nearly 150 years.

An example

Turn SKATE into SNACK in three moves: SKATE, SLATE, SLACK, SNACK. Each word differs from the one before it by exactly one letter, and each is a real English word.

Why five letters?

Five-letter words are the sweet spot: there are enough of them to make rich ladders, but each move is still a real decision. That is why Break 5 uses five letters, and why every puzzle has a par: the shortest ladder that uses everyday words, so it is always solvable with vocabulary you know.

Play a word ladder now

Break 5 sets one free word ladder every day at midnight UK time, with a leaderboard for the fastest solvers. Play today's puzzle, warm up with unlimited practice ladders, or climb through every past puzzle in the archive.