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Word Ladder Solver, the shortest path, rung by rung.

A free word ladder solver. Enter a start word and an end word of the same length, and it finds the shortest ladder that changes one letter at a time, with every rung a valid English word. It also puts Crossclimb-style rung words in order.

How it worksShortest path

Interactive

Choose a mode

The word list is large and includes rare words. Add any you don't want, or tap the skip icon next to a rung in the result.

Loading the full word list. A small built-in list is used until it arrives.

Result

Enter your words and press the button. Try the example to see a ladder from cold to warm.

Field guide

How the word ladder solver works.

A word ladder is a chain of words in which each step changes exactly one letter and every rung is a real word. Lewis Carroll introduced the puzzle in the late 1870s under the name “doublets”, and it has stayed popular because the rules fit in one sentence while good ladders can be hard to see. This word ladder solver searches an English word list for you and shows the shortest chain, with the changed letter highlighted at every step.

The four modes

  • Shortest ladder finds the fewest steps between a start and an end word, shows one ladder, and counts how many shortest ladders exist.
  • Exact length finds ladders with a number of words you choose, which suits puzzles that fix the length in advance.
  • Crossclimb order takes rung words you already have and arranges them so each neighbor differs by one letter.
  • Neighbor words lists every word one letter away from a word you type, grouped by the position that changes.

A worked example

Turn COLD into WARM. All four letters differ, and each step can fix only one of them, so no ladder can take fewer than four steps. The lower bound is easy to state:

shortest ladder ≥ letters that differ between the two words

With the ENABLE word list the solver finds a ladder that reaches the bound: COLD, CORD, CARD, WARD, WARM. It reports four steps and six shortest ladders in all. Some go through WORD instead, such as COLD, CORD, WORD, WORM, WARM. Choose Exact length with seven words and the same two endpoints give you longer detours that still change one letter at a time.

How the search works

The solver files every word of the right length under wildcard patterns. COLD goes under *OLD, C*LD, CO*D and COL*. Two words that share a pattern differ in exactly one position, so neighbors turn up without comparing every pair of words. A breadth-first search then starts at the end word and spreads outward one step at a time. The first time it reaches the start word, the distance is the shortest possible. A second pass walks back down those layers to list a few ladders and to count them all. Everything runs in your browser, and each search is capped so it cannot freeze the page.

Using it for Crossclimb-style ladders

Crossclimb is a LinkedIn game built on word ladders, where neighboring answers differ by one letter. This tool never sees the game's clues and does not provide daily answers, but the ladder part is plain logic. If you have solved some rungs and are unsure how to stack them, put them in Crossclimb order mode. If you know the top and bottom words and how many rungs there are, use Exact length with that count. If one rung is missing, Neighbor words lists every candidate that fits next to a word you already have. Crossclimb order needs no dictionary, so names and unusual answers are fine.

Why you may see strange words

ENABLE is a public-domain list of about 172,000 words. It includes many rare entries and leaves out proper nouns and newer words, so a word you know can be missing and an odd one can appear. If a rung looks wrong for your puzzle, skip it and the solver looks for another route. Words typed as the start or end are always accepted, even when they are not in the list.

Disclaimer: This tool is an independent fan creation and is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by LinkedIn Corporation. “Crossclimb” and “LinkedIn” are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe the kind of puzzle this helps with. Word ladders are a public-domain puzzle form. Provided for practice and entertainment only.