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Ladder #1 Par 4 Moves 0
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KING BALD

    Change one letter at a time, and every step has to be a real word.

    Word ladder

    Word ladder, one letter at a time

    Play word ladder free: climb from one word to another changing a single letter at a time, every rung a real word. Two hundred puzzles, each with a par worth beating.

    How to Play

    1. Change Exactly One Letter

      COLD becomes CORD becomes CARD. One letter per rung, never two, and never a letter added or removed — the word stays the same length all the way up.

    2. Every rung has to be a real word

      That is the whole constraint. Any word in the dictionary counts, not just everyday ones, so a route you can see is a route you can use.

    3. Par is a route through ordinary words

      The number shown is the shortest ladder built from everyday vocabulary, so it is genuinely reachable. Beating it is unusual; matching it is a good game.

    4. Work from Both Ends

      The trick nearly everybody arrives at eventually: start climbing from the target as well as the start, and meet in the middle. It halves the number of rungs you have to imagine at once.

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    Word ladder questions, answered

    Who invented word ladders?

    Lewis Carroll, in 1877, who called them doublets. The rules have not changed since: one letter at a time, every step a real word.

    Why is par sometimes beatable?

    Because par is measured through everyday words, and the words you are allowed to type include obscure ones. A shorter route often exists through words most people would never think of, and finding one is a fair win.

    Can I reuse a word?

    No. A repeated rung means you have gone in a circle, and allowing it would let a ladder wander for ever while the move count climbed.

    Why was my word refused?

    Three possible reasons: it changed more than one letter, it is a different length, or it is not in the dictionary. The message says which.

    Is there always a solution?

    Yes. Every ladder here was built by finding a route first, so the target is always reachable — you are never handed a puzzle nobody could finish.