Word Steps

About Word Steps

Word Steps is a puzzle of small changes. You are given a four-letter word and a target, and you have to get from one to the other by changing one letter at a time — and every word on the way has to be a real word. COLD becomes CORD, then WORD, WARD and finally WARM. There are usually many ways through; the fun is in finding one, and the skill is in finding a short one fast.

A round is five ladders, each a step longer than the one before, from three changes to six. Your time is the time for all five, measured by our server. Stuck? A hint shows you the next word on a shortest way from where you are, and adds twenty seconds. The leaderboard is weekly: it resets every Monday at 00:00 UTC.

How to play

1. Press Start. The start word is at the top and the target at the bottom.
2. Tap a letter of your current word to choose it, then tap — or type — the letter to put in its place.
3. If the new word is a real word, it is added to your ladder. If not, it is refused and nothing is lost.
4. Reach the target to move on to the next ladder. Undo steps back one word.
5. Stuck? Hint adds the next word on a shortest way, for twenty seconds on your time.
6. Climb all five ladders to finish. Sign in to put your time on the weekly leaderboard.

Tips

• Look for the letters the start and target already share — those can often stay put the whole way.
• Try changing the vowel first: it often has the most real words around it, as in BALL, BELL, BILL and BULL.
• If a letter has to change but no word allows it yet, change a different letter first to open the way.
• Common endings like -ATE, -ING and -OLD give lots of words to move between.
• A hint costs twenty seconds — usually less than staring at a stuck ladder does.

Questions players ask