Word ladder answers for October 11, 2026
The daily ladder for Sunday, October 11, 2026 had 5 puzzles. The quickest was TONE to EBONY, solvable in 3 steps, and the longest was PULLEY to HITHER, which needs at least 7.
Solutions are folded away until you open them, so you can have a go first. We show one shortest path per puzzle. Plenty of ladders have two or three paths of the same length, so if yours doesn't match and has the same step count, it's just as good.
Puzzle 1: TONE to EBONY
Show the solution
- T becomes B
- E becomes Y
- add E
Words in this ladder
- TONE noun
- the quality of a person's voice
- BONE noun
- rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates
- BONY adjective
- very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold
- EBONY noun
- a very dark black
Puzzle 2: DRAIN to BRAND
Show the solution
- D becomes B
- N becomes D
- I becomes N
Words in this ladder
- DRAIN noun
- emptying something accomplished by allowing liquid to run out of it
- BRAIN noun
- that part of the central nervous system that includes all the higher nervous centers; enclosed within the skull; continuous with the spinal cord
- BRAID noun
- a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair
- BRAND noun
- a name given to a product or service
Puzzle 3: STAB to CLAIM
Show the solution
- T becomes L
- B becomes M
- S becomes C
- add I
Words in this ladder
- STAB noun
- a sudden sharp feeling
- SLAB noun
- block consisting of a thick piece of something
- SLAM noun
- winning all or all but one of the tricks in bridge
- CLAM noun
- burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud; the shell closes with viselike firmness
- CLAIM noun
- an assertion of a right (as to money or property)
Puzzle 4: CARD to BATON
Show the solution
- C becomes B
- D becomes N
- add O
- R becomes T
Words in this ladder
- CARD noun
- one of a set of small pieces of stiff paper marked in various ways and used for playing games or for telling fortunes
- BARD noun
- a lyric poet
- BARN noun
- an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals
- BARON noun
- a nobleman (in various countries) of varying rank
- BATON noun
- a thin tapered rod used by a conductor to lead an orchestra or choir
Puzzle 5: PULLEY to HITHER
Show the solution
- Y becomes R
- P becomes F
- U becomes I
- L becomes T
- L becomes T
- F becomes H
- T becomes H
Words in this ladder
- PULLEY noun
- a simple machine consisting of a wheel with a groove in which a rope can run to change the direction or point of application of a force applied to the rope
- PULLER noun
- someone who applies force so as to cause motion toward herself or himself
- FULLER noun
- United States jurist and chief justice of the United States Supreme Court (1833-1910)
- FILLER noun
- used for filling cracks or holes in a surface
- FILTER noun
- device that removes something from whatever passes through it
- FITTER noun
- someone who fits a garment to a particular person
- HITTER noun
- (baseball) a ballplayer who is batting
- HITHER adverb
- to this place (especially toward the speaker)
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