One letter at a time
You change one letter of a word to make another word, and keep going until you reach the word you were aiming at. Lewis Carroll published this puzzle in 1879 and called it Doublets.
Two habits do most of the work. Change a vowel first: swapping the a in CAT for an o gives COT, and vowels open more words than consonants do. And work from both ends, a step down from the start and a step back from the target, until the two meet in the middle.
Some words have many neighbors. CORE, CURE, BARE, CAKE, CANE and CASE are all one letter from CARE. A word like that is a good stepping stone, because whatever you need next is probably one step away from it.
COLD to WARM in four steps
Start at COLD. Change the L to an R and you have CORD. Change the O to an A and you have CARD. Change the C to a W and you have WARD. Change the D to an M and you have WARM.
COLD, CORD, CARD, WARD, WARM. Four steps, and every one of them is a word.
Notice where the vowel changed. The second step is the only vowel change, and it is the one that carries the ladder from the cold words to the warm ones.
Your turn
You are on HEAD and you are aiming at HEAT. One letter has to change.
Look at the two words and find the position where they differ, then answer the question.
Try it
To get from HEAD to HEAT, which letter changes?
- The first letter
- The last letter
Show the answer
The last letter
Yes. HEA is the same in both words, so only the last letter changes: D becomes T.
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Practice Word ladder