Word ladder answers for October 31, 2026
The daily ladder for Saturday, October 31, 2026 had 5 puzzles. The quickest was NAVE to GRADE, solvable in 3 steps, and the longest was PLAY to BISON, 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: NAVE to GRADE
Show the solution
- N becomes R
- add G
- V becomes D
Words in this ladder
- NAVE noun
- the central area of a church
- RAVE noun
- a dance party that lasts all night and electronically synthesized music is played
- GRAVE noun
- death of a person
- GRADE noun
- a body of students who are taught together
Puzzle 2: LONE to LARD
Show the solution
- O becomes A
- E becomes D
- N becomes R
Words in this ladder
- LONE adjective
- lacking companions or companionship
- LANE noun
- a narrow way or road
- LAND noun
- the land on which real estate is located
- LARD noun
- soft white semisolid fat obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of the hog
Puzzle 3: DAB to BELT
Show the solution
- B becomes D
- D becomes B
- A becomes E
- D becomes T
- add L
Words in this ladder
- DAB noun
- a light touch or stroke
- DAD noun
- an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
- BAD noun
- that which is below standard or expectations as of ethics or decency
- BED noun
- a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep
- BET noun
- the money risked on a gamble
- BELT noun
- endless loop of flexible material between two rotating shafts or pulleys
Puzzle 4: LIST to BLING
Show the solution
- S becomes N
- T becomes G
- add B
Words in this ladder
- LIST noun
- a database containing an ordered array of items (names or topics)
- LINT noun
- fine ravellings of cotton or linen fibers
- LING noun
- water chestnut whose spiny fruit has two rather than 4 prongs
- BLING noun
- flashy, ostentatious jewelry
Puzzle 5: PLAY to BISON
Show the solution
- A becomes O
- Y becomes T
- P becomes B
- L becomes O
- T becomes N
- add S
- O becomes I
Words in this ladder
- PLAY noun
- a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
- PLOY noun
- an opening remark intended to secure an advantage for the speaker
- PLOT noun
- a secret scheme to do something (especially something underhand or illegal)
- BLOT noun
- a blemish made by dirt
- BOOT noun
- footwear that covers the whole foot and lower leg
- BOON noun
- a desirable state
- BOSON noun
- any particle that obeys Bose-Einstein statistics but not the Pauli exclusion principle; all nuclei with an even mass number are bosons
- BISON noun
- any of several large humped bovids having shaggy manes and large heads and short horns
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