Word ladder answers for October 19, 2026
The daily ladder for Monday, October 19, 2026 had 5 puzzles. The quickest was SICK to TILT, solvable in 3 steps, and the longest was DIVES to BATTERY, which needs at least 7. On SICK to TILT, players averaged 3.7 steps against a shortest path of 3.
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: SICK to TILT
Show the solution
- C becomes L
- K becomes T
- S becomes T
Words in this ladder
- SICK noun
- people who are sick
- SILK noun
- a fabric made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae
- SILT noun
- mud or clay or small rocks deposited by a river or lake
- TILT noun
- a combat between two mounted knights tilting against each other with blunted lances
Puzzle 2: FARM to DARK
Show the solution
- M becomes E
- F becomes D
- E becomes K
Words in this ladder
- FARM noun
- workplace consisting of farm buildings and cultivated land as a unit
- FARE noun
- an agenda of things to do
- DARE noun
- a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy
- DARK noun
- absence of light or illumination
Puzzle 3: REPS to BREEDS
Show the solution
- P becomes D
- add E
- add B
Words in this ladder
- REPS noun
- informal abbreviation of `representative'
- REDS noun
- red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
- REEDS noun
- tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera Arundo and Phragmites
- BREEDS noun
- a special variety of domesticated animals within a species
Puzzle 4: PETS to ASIDE
Show the solution
- E becomes I
- P becomes S
- S becomes E
- T becomes D
- add A
Words in this ladder
- PETS noun
- a domesticated animal kept for companionship or amusement
- PITS noun
- a sizeable hole (usually in the ground)
- SITS verb
- be seated
- SITE noun
- the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located)
- SIDE noun
- a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
- ASIDE noun
- a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage
Puzzle 5: DIVES to BATTERY
Show the solution
- D becomes L
- add R
- V becomes T
- add T
- L becomes B
- I becomes A
- S becomes Y
Words in this ladder
- DIVES noun
- a cheap disreputable nightclub or dance hall
- LIVES noun
- a characteristic state or mode of living
- LIVERS noun
- large and complicated reddish-brown glandular organ located in the upper right portion of the abdominal cavity; secretes bile and functions in metabolism of protein and carbohydrate and fat; synthesizes substances involved in the clotting of the blood; synthesizes vitamin A; detoxifies poisonous substances and breaks down worn-out erythrocytes
- LITERS noun
- a metric unit of capacity, formerly defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water under standard conditions; now equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters (or approximately 1.75 pints)
- LITTERS noun
- the offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal
- BITTERS noun
- alcoholic liquor flavored with bitter herbs and roots
- BATTERS noun
- (baseball) a ballplayer who is batting
- BATTERY noun
- group of guns or missile launchers operated together at one place
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