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How to Play Wurdzy

Change one letter. Choose your path. Reach the word.

Rules

  1. 1

    Change exactly one letter

    Each step swaps a single letter. Letters never move, and you can't add or remove any.

  2. 2

    You choose the path

    Any real word one letter away is allowed — there's no set sequence to find. Just don't reuse a word on the same ladder.

  3. 3

    Reach the target

    The target is always shown. Get there in as few moves as you can: when you arrive you'll see the shortest possible path and your efficiency.

Stuck? You have tools

  • Hints nudge, never force. For the word you're on: first how many letters still differ from the target, then a word that gets closer, then the next word on one shortest path. You can still play any valid word. Each hint lowers your score.
  • Hit a dead end? Undo. Step back down your ladder and branch out. Every word you play still counts as a move.
  • Master has a move limit. Reach the target before you run out of moves, or the puzzle fails — you can restart and try a sharper route.
  • Your streak grows when you solve all three of the day's ladders on the day. Match the shortest path for a 🏆 Perfect Path.

Three ladders a day

  1. Warm-UpFour letters, everyday words. About a minute.
  2. ChallengeFive letters, more branches to choose from. A few minutes.
  3. MasterSix or seven letters, long routes and a move limit.

Tips

  • Look for letters you already share with the target, and keep them.
  • The obvious swap isn't always the shortest: sometimes a letter has to change twice.
  • Common English words, plurals and past tenses all count.
  • Three new ladders arrive every day at midnight, your local time.

Example

COLD → WARM. Two different routes, both 4 moves — the shortest possible. The changed letter is marked.

  1. COLD
  2. CORD
  3. CARD
  4. WARD
  5. WARM
  1. COLD
  2. CORD
  3. WORD
  4. WORM
  5. WARM

Try it

Get from COLD to WARM. Pick any word — you choose the path.

Moves: 0

  1. COLD

The Wurdzy guide

What is a word ladder?

A word ladder is a puzzle where you turn one word into another through a chain of real words, each differing from the last by a single letter. Lewis Carroll popularised them in 1879 as “doublets”. The fun is in spotting which words bridge the gap: HEAD can become TAIL, and COLD can become WARM.

How one-letter changes work

Each move replaces exactly one letter while every other letter stays where it is. You can't add, remove or rearrange letters, and the new word has to be in the dictionary. From COLD, for example, CORD, BOLD and COLT are all fine moves; CARD is not, because it changes two letters at once.

How Wurdzy works

Type a word (or tap it out on the on-screen keyboard) and press Enter to add it to your ladder. Wurdzy checks the move instantly and explains any problem — not a word, more than one letter changed, or a word you've already used. There is no single correct route: any valid word counts. Undo lets you step back and try another branch, and hints can nudge you toward the target when you're stuck.

How scoring works

Every puzzle has a shortest possible path, calculated in advance. When you solve it, Wurdzy compares your ladder with that minimum:

  • Efficiency is your moves as a percentage of the shortest path. 100% is a Perfect Path; extra moves push it higher.
  • Score rewards reaching the target in as few moves as possible, adds a small bonus for finishing quickly, and takes a little off for each hint. Harder ladders are worth more.
  • Streaks grow when you solve all three of the day's ladders on the day.

How daily puzzles work

Three new ladders arrive every day at midnight in your local time zone: Warm-Up, Challenge and Master. Everyone gets the same puzzles on the same date, and each one is checked to be solvable using common English words. Missed a day? Past puzzles stay available in the puzzle archive, while future puzzles stay locked until their day.

Want to know more about the game itself? Read about Wurdzy.

Play today's Wurdzy