Word ladder answers for June 28, 2026
The daily ladder for Sunday, June 28, 2026 had 5 puzzles. The quickest was FORK to WORM, solvable in 2 steps, and the longest was FOLDS to SWOTS, which needs at least 4.
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: HOOPS to COLTS
Show the solution
- P becomes T
- H becomes C
- O becomes L
Words in this ladder
- HOOPS noun
- a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop
- HOOTS noun
- a loud raucous cry (as of an owl)
- COOTS noun
- slate-black slow-flying birds somewhat resembling ducks
- COLTS noun
- a young male horse under the age of four
Puzzle 2: FORK to WORM
Show the solution
- F becomes W
- K becomes M
Words in this ladder
- FORK noun
- cutlery used for serving and eating food
- WORK noun
- activity directed toward making or doing something
- WORM noun
- any of numerous relatively small elongated soft-bodied animals especially of the phyla Annelida and Chaetognatha and Nematoda and Nemertea and Platyhelminthes; also many insect larvae
Puzzle 3: SCAMS to SCARCE
Show the solution
- M becomes R
- S becomes E
- add C
Words in this ladder
- SCAMS noun
- a fraudulent business scheme
- SCARS noun
- a mark left (usually on the skin) by the healing of injured tissue
- SCARE noun
- sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events
- SCARCE adjective
- deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
Puzzle 4: FOLDS to SWOTS
Show the solution
- L becomes O
- D becomes T
- F becomes S
- O becomes W
Words in this ladder
- FOLDS noun
- an angular or rounded shape made by folding
- FOODS noun
- any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue
- FOOTS noun
- the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
- SOOTS noun
- a black colloidal substance consisting wholly or principally of amorphous carbon and used to make pigments and ink
- SWOTS noun
- an insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected or boringly studious
Puzzle 5: TINGS to TILDEN
Show the solution
- G becomes E
- N becomes D
- add L
- S becomes N
Words in this ladder
- TINGS noun
- a light clear metallic sound as of a small bell
- TINES noun
- prong on a fork or pitchfork or antler
- TIDES noun
- the periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon
- TILDES noun
- a diacritical mark (~) placed over the letter n in Spanish to indicate a palatal nasal sound or over a vowel in Portuguese to indicate nasalization
- TILDEN noun
- United States tennis player who dominated men's tennis in the 1920s (1893-1953)
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