Word ladder answers for May 12, 2026
The daily ladder for Tuesday, May 12, 2026 had 5 puzzles. The quickest was LEFT to WILT, solvable in 3 steps, and the longest was BLOTS to SNIDE, which needs at least 6.
Each solution below is hidden until you open it, so you can try the puzzle first. A shortest solution is shown for every puzzle; many ladders have more than one path of the same length, so yours may differ and still be optimal.
Puzzle 1: LEFT to WILT
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- E becomes I
- F becomes L
- L becomes W
Words in this ladder
- LEFT noun
- location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
- LIFT noun
- the act of giving temporary assistance
- LILT noun
- a jaunty rhythm in music
- WILT noun
- any plant disease characterized by drooping and shriveling; usually caused by parasites attacking the roots
Puzzle 2: COIL to GOOS
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- I becomes O
- L becomes S
- C becomes G
Words in this ladder
- COIL noun
- a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops
- COOL noun
- the quality of being at a refreshingly low temperature
- COOS noun
- the sound made by a pigeon
- GOOS noun
- any thick, viscous matter
Puzzle 3: PIKE to SOARS
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- add S
- K becomes R
- I becomes A
- E becomes S
- P becomes O
Words in this ladder
- PIKE noun
- a broad highway designed for high-speed traffic
- SPIKE noun
- a transient variation in voltage or current
- SPIRE noun
- a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building (usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at the top
- SPARE noun
- an extra component of a machine or other apparatus
- SPARS noun
- any of various nonmetallic minerals (calcite or feldspar) that are light in color and transparent or translucent and cleavable
- SOARS noun
- the act of rising upward into the air
Puzzle 4: GHATS to SHARP
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- G becomes C
- T becomes R
- S becomes D
- C becomes S
- D becomes P
Words in this ladder
- GHATS noun
- stairway in India leading down to a landing on the water
- CHATS noun
- an informal conversation
- CHARS noun
- a charred substance
- CHARD noun
- beet lacking swollen root; grown as a vegetable for its edible leaves and stalks
- SHARD noun
- a broken piece of a brittle artifact
- SHARP noun
- a musical notation indicating one half step higher than the note named
Puzzle 5: BLOTS to SNIDE
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- B becomes S
- O becomes I
- T becomes M
- S becomes E
- M becomes D
- L becomes N
Words in this ladder
- BLOTS noun
- a blemish made by dirt
- SLOTS noun
- a position in a grammatical linguistic construction in which a variety of alternative units are interchangeable
- SLITS noun
- a long narrow opening
- SLIMS verb
- take off weight
- SLIME noun
- any thick, viscous matter
- SLIDE noun
- a small flat rectangular piece of glass on which specimens can be mounted for microscopic study
- SNIDE adjective
- expressive of contempt
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