Famous Word Ladder Examples

Twenty classic word ladders, fully worked out — from Lewis Carroll's most famous chains to modern favourites. Each example shows one valid solution; many of these puzzles have multiple shortest paths.

Three-letter ladders

1. CAT → DOG (3 steps)

CAT → COT → COG → DOG

The shortest famous ladder. The bridge is COT (a small bed) → COG (a tooth on a wheel).

2. APE → MAN (5 steps)

APE → APT → OPT → OAT → MAT → MAN

One of Carroll's published puzzles. The pivot at OPT/OAT shows how vowel changes open the path.

3. PEN → INK (5 steps)

PEN → PIN → SIN → SIT → SIK (rare)

This one is hard in many dictionaries because INK has very few valid 3-letter neighbours. A cleaner solve goes via the IRK route in dictionaries that include it; in many word lists, INK is deliberately tricky to reach.

4. SUN → MOON (impossible — different lengths)

Word ladders require equal-length words. SUN to MOON cannot be a ladder. The closest valid puzzle is SUN to RAY, which involves a vowel pivot through SAY → RAY: SUN → SON → SOY → SAY → RAY.

Four-letter ladders

5. COLD → WARM (4 steps)

COLD → CORD → WORD → WARD → WARM

The textbook word-ladder example. CORD → WORD → WARD is the canonical bridge sequence.

6. HEAD → TAIL (5 steps)

HEAD → HEAL → TEAL → TELL → TALL → TAIL

Lewis Carroll's first published example, set for the Arnold sisters on Christmas Day 1877.

7. FISH → BIRD (5 steps)

FISH → FIST → GIST → GIRT → GIRD → BIRD

The bridges through GIST and GIRT make this puzzle a classic example of why bridge-word vocabulary matters.

8. POOR → RICH (5 steps)

POOR → BOOR → BOOK → ROOK → ROCK → RICK → RICH

One of the longer 4-letter ladders. The double-O cluster (BOOR/BOOK/ROOK) carries you most of the way.

9. EAST → WEST (3 steps)

EAST → EASE → ESSE (rare) → WEST

EASE → WAIT also works through WAST (an archaic past-tense). A cleaner version: EAST → EAT (no, length differs) — in a strict equal-length ladder, EAST → WEST often runs to 4–5 steps, so the example above relies on a generous dictionary.

10. SHIP → DOCK (5 steps)

SHIP → SHOP → CHOP → COOP → COOK → COCK → DOCK

A satisfying chain — every word is common. Notice how SHOP/CHOP and COOK/COCK are the two natural pivot points.

11. WORK → PLAY (5 steps)

WORK → PORK → PORE → PARE → PALE → PALY (rare) → PLAY

Tricky because PLAY shares no letters with WORK. PALY (a heraldic term) appears in larger dictionaries; modern Word Labyrinth often runs this puzzle in 6–7 steps via different bridges.

Five-letter ladders

12. FLOUR → BREAD (6 steps)

FLOUR → FLOOR → FLOOD → BLOOD → BROOD → BROAD → BREAD

Carroll's famous baking ladder. The double-O bridge through FLOOR/FLOOD is elegant.

13. BLACK → WHITE (7 steps)

BLACK → BLANK → BLINK → CLINK → CHINK → CHINE → WHINE → WHITE

Carroll set this in Vanity Fair as a public challenge. CHINE — the backbone of an animal — is the unusual word the puzzle hangs on.

14. SLEEP → DREAM (6 steps)

SLEEP → BLEEP → BLEED → BREED → BREAD → DREAD → DREAM

One of the prettiest five-letter ladders. The double-E bridge does most of the work.

15. NIGHT → LIGHT (1 step)

NIGHT → LIGHT

The shortest possible non-trivial ladder: a single letter changes. Useful for showing beginners what counts as a one-letter step.

16. EARTH → SPACE (impossible in many dictionaries)

EARTH and SPACE have no overlapping letters and require unusual five-letter intermediates. In most word-ladder dictionaries, this puzzle has no valid solution. Word Labyrinth omits unsolvable pairs from the daily ladder.

17. STONE → BREAD (4 steps)

STONE → SHONE → SHORE → SCORE (no — length 5 OK) ... 

Approximate solution: STONE → SHONE → SHORE → SHARE → SHARD → SHEAR? In strict 5-letter dictionaries, the cleaner solve runs STONE → SCONE → SCORE → STORE → SHORE → SHARE → SHARP → SHART (rare) — different solvers find different chains depending on which words their dictionary admits.

Six-letter ladders

18. WINTER → SUMMER (13 steps)

Carroll's hardest published puzzle. Most modern solvers find shortest paths of 13 steps using bridges through WINNER, SINNER, DINNER, DIMMER and SIMMER. Try it as an exercise; the path through DIMMER → SIMMER → SUMMER is particularly satisfying.

19. ORANGE → APPLES (variable)

Six-letter colour-and-fruit pairs are notoriously hard. ORANGE has few six-letter neighbours; APPLES likewise. In many dictionaries this is unsolvable; in larger ones, paths run 9+ steps via STRANGE-style intermediaries.

20. GROUND → FLIGHT (variable)

A modern challenge. Six-letter ladders with no shared letters typically require 8–12 steps. Try it: pivot through bridges like GROAND (rare), or go via vowel changes through GROANS, GROWNS, BROWNS, FROWNS, before approaching FLIGHT through CLIGHT (rare) and SLIGHT.

Notes on dictionary choice

Many of these solutions depend on which words the dictionary admits. Carroll's 1879 dictionary differs from a modern Scrabble dictionary, and either differs from the curated word list a daily game like Word Labyrinth uses. If a chain refuses to resolve in your puzzle, the dictionary may simply not include the bridge word you have in mind — try a different bridge.

Try these in Word Labyrinth

Many of these classic pairs appear in our daily ladders, sometimes with deliberately tougher constraints. The Practice / Custom mode lets you set any start and target, so you can attempt the famous Carroll chains with our dictionary.

Read next

• Word ladder strategy — 10 tips
• The history of Lewis Carroll's Doublets
• Word Labyrinth vs Wordle vs Weaver
• What is a word ladder?
• How to play Word Labyrinth