Here are 15 word ladder puzzles with answers, arranged from easy to hard, so you can warm up on two-step ladders before working toward seven-step challenges. Every word ladder puzzle below uses four-letter words only, and every ladder has been checked letter by letter: each step changes exactly one letter, and every word along the way is real. Try to solve each one yourself before you look at the word ladder answer key. If you want to play a word ladder puzzle right now instead of just reading about one, Poople is a free daily word ladder game you can open in any browser. New to the format? What is a word ladder? covers the full rules first.
Difficulty here is measured by par, the fewest possible steps between the start and target word, so the numbering below moves from a two-step warm-up all the way to a seven-step finale. Solve as many as you can on your own first. The answer key waits until the end of the article, grouped by difficulty so it is easy to check just the puzzles you attempted.
How to Solve a Word Ladder Puzzle
The rules behind every word ladder puzzle are short: change exactly one letter per step, land on a real word every time, and reach the target word in as few moves as possible. That shortest possible number of steps is called par, and it is simply the number of moves in the solution, one fewer than the number of words shown in a completed ladder. A four-word solution ladder therefore has a par of 3, since it takes three moves to get from the first word to the last, and every “par N” label in this article follows that same count.
A useful habit for any word ladder puzzle is to work from both ends: look at the start word and the target word side by side, see which letters already match, and plan a path that closes the remaining gap instead of swapping letters at random. Vowel swaps tend to open more doors than consonant swaps, since more real words share a vowel pattern than an exact consonant pattern. Every puzzle here is a 4-letter word ladder, so the rungs are short enough to hold in your head while you plan a couple of moves ahead. For more word ladder examples and the full rundown of rules, see What is a word ladder?, and for a deeper look at hub words, dead ends, and scoring, the strategy guide goes further.
One habit that separates a fast solve from a stuck one is writing down every real word you can make from the current rung before locking in your next move. A word ladder puzzle can double back on itself if you chase a branch too far before checking whether it still leads anywhere, so if a branch runs dry, back up one step and try a different single-letter swap instead of restarting the whole puzzle from scratch. Keeping a short list of near-miss words on the side helps too, since a word that does not fit the current rung sometimes turns out to be exactly what the next rung needs.
Easy Word Ladder Puzzles (Par 2 to 3)
These five puzzles are the best place to start if you are new to word ladders, or if you just want a quick, easy word ladder to solve on a coffee break. Each one takes two or three steps to complete. Try solving each row yourself, on paper or in your head, before you check the answer key further down the page. An easy word ladder puzzle like the five below is also a good way to teach a beginner the rules, since the short path makes cause and effect easy to see: change one letter, get a new real word, repeat until you land on the target.
| # | Start | Target | Par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LOOK | POOP | 2 |
| 2 | DOOR | POOP | 2 |
| 3 | EAST | WEST | 3 |
| 4 | MILK | WINE | 3 |
| 5 | FOOD | POOP | 3 |
Every start and target word above is common enough that you probably already know it. The real challenge is finding the words hiding in between, so a scratch pad helps more here than raw vocabulary alone.
Medium Word Ladder Puzzles (Par 4 to 5)
Once the easy set feels quick, these six mid-tier puzzles raise the difficulty with a couple of extra steps each. A medium word ladder puzzle usually still has one clean path, but the letters swap in a less obvious order, so one wrong early guess can lead to a dead end that takes a few tries to back out of.
| # | Start | Target | Par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | SICK | WELL | 4 |
| 7 | DARK | LAMP | 4 |
| 8 | PORK | POOP | 4 |
| 9 | HEAD | TAIL | 5 |
| 10 | HAND | FOOT | 5 |
| 11 | KING | PAWN | 5 |
Puzzle 9 and puzzle 10 both play on body-part pairs, HEAD to TAIL and HAND to FOOT, while puzzle 11 turns a chess-adjacent KING into a PAWN in five real-word moves. If you get stuck partway through a medium word ladder puzzle, try counting how many letters still differ between your current word and the target. That number tends to shrink by exactly one with every correct move, so if it stops shrinking, the last swap probably opened a dead end rather than closing the gap.
Hard Word Ladder Puzzles (Par 6 and Up)
These four hard word ladder puzzles run six or seven steps long, which means a much larger tree of possible moves at every rung. Give yourself more time than usual, and do not be afraid to backtrack a step or two if a branch stops producing real words. A hard word ladder puzzle rewards patience more than speed, so sketch out two or three candidate branches from the start word before committing to one. A promising first move can still run out of real words two or three rungs later, and it is much faster to compare branches on paper than to discover a dead end after six steps in.
| # | Start | Target | Par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | SLOW | FAST | 6 |
| 13 | SINK | SWIM | 6 |
| 14 | FISH | HOOK | 6 |
| 15 | POOR | RICH | 7 |
Puzzle 12 and puzzle 15 both pair opposite-meaning words, SLOW to FAST and POOR to RICH, which makes for a satisfying finish once you land the last rung. Puzzle 15 is the longest ladder in this set, so it rewards the same both-ends approach described above more than any other puzzle here.
Word Ladder Answers (Answer Key)
Here is the full word ladder answer key for all 15 puzzles above, grouped the same way: easy, medium, then hard. Each line shows the complete ladder from start word to target word, with every rung it takes along the way. These word ladder answers cover every puzzle, so you can check a single step you got stuck on or read a whole ladder at once.
Easy Answers (1 to 5)
- LOOK -> LOOP -> POOP
- DOOR -> POOR -> POOP
- EAST -> PAST -> PEST -> WEST
- MILK -> MINK -> WINK -> WINE
- FOOD -> GOOD -> GOOP -> POOP
Medium Answers (6 to 11)
- SICK -> SILK -> SILL -> WILL -> WELL
- DARK -> DARE -> DAME -> LAME -> LAMP
- PORK -> CORK -> COOK -> COOP -> POOP
- HEAD -> HELD -> HELL -> TELL -> TALL -> TAIL
- HAND -> BAND -> BOND -> FOND -> FOOD -> FOOT
- KING -> PING -> PANG -> PANS -> PAWS -> PAWN
Hard Answers (12 to 15)
- SLOW -> FLOW -> FLAW -> FLAT -> FEAT -> FEST -> FAST
- SINK -> SANK -> SAND -> SAID -> SKID -> SKIM -> SWIM
- FISH -> FIST -> LIST -> LOST -> LOOT -> LOOK -> HOOK
- POOR -> POOL -> POLL -> POLE -> PILE -> RILE -> RICE -> RICH
If your own solve took a different path with the same number of steps, that still counts as a par solution. A word ladder often has more than one shortest route between the same two words, and the ladders above are simply one verified path each. Comparing your own solve against the answer key is also a good way to pick up new words, since a route you did not think of might pass through a word you had not solved with before.
Where to Get More Word Ladder Puzzles
Fifteen puzzles is a solid warm-up, but a puzzle habit sticks better with a steady supply of new ones, which is exactly what these three tools are for.
Poople is a free daily word ladder game where every single puzzle ends on the same four-letter target, POOP. A new start word goes live every day at 08:00 UTC, so it works well as a quick daily word puzzle habit rather than a one-time challenge.
Poople Unlimited generates a random word ladder on demand, any time you want one, so you are not stuck waiting for tomorrow’s reset if today’s set left you wanting more practice.
For any four-letter word ladder puzzle you make up yourself, or find somewhere else, the word ladder solver will check whether your answer works or find a shortest path for you automatically. No printable needed, play online for free instead.
A routine that works well across all three: solve the daily Poople puzzle first, since it only offers one shot per day, then switch to Unlimited mode for as many extra rounds as you have time for, and keep the solver open in another tab for whenever you want to check a guess instead of guessing blind.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a word ladder puzzle?
A word ladder puzzle is a puzzle where you change one letter at a time to turn a start word into a target word, keeping a real word at every step along the way.
Are word ladder puzzles good for adults?
Yes. A word ladder puzzle is a word ladder for adults just as much as it is for kids, since it gives you a quick vocabulary and pattern-recognition workout without needing a big block of time. The same four-letter word ladder that teaches a kid new words doubles as a fast mental warm-up for an adult.
How many steps should a word ladder take?
As few as possible. The shortest number of steps between a start word and a target word is called par, and each puzzle above lists its par next to the puzzle number, so you know what you are aiming for before you start. Most of the puzzles in this article sit between par 2 and par 7, which is a typical range for a single four-letter word ladder. Longer word pairs, or word pairs that share very few letters in common, can push par well past that.
Where can I get more word ladder puzzles with answers?
Poople has a new daily word ladder with an answer available once you solve it, Poople Unlimited generates endless random puzzles, and the word ladder solver will reveal the answer to any four-letter puzzle you are stuck on.
Play Poople Today
You just worked through 15 word ladder puzzles with answers, from a two-step warm-up to a seven-step finale. Play today’s puzzle on Poople to try a fresh word ladder, or head to Unlimited mode to keep practicing with as many random ladders as you want. Bookmark this page if you want to revisit the answer key later, and check back on the blog for more word ladder puzzles with answers as new sets go up.