Daily Word Ladder
Start with one visible five-letter word and reach another by changing exactly one letter per rung. The puzzle is stable for the current local date, with a solver-verified par and local streak tracking.
A daily ritual without changing Today's 6
This specialist daily is intentionally separate from the platform's six-game rotating score contract.
Date-stable source
The local date deterministically selects one of 78 verified source ladders and a direction. Reloading the page does not swap the puzzle.
Past-day replay
Previous and next-day controls let you revisit earlier ladder dates. Replaying an old date does not fabricate or extend the current daily streak.
Spoiler-free sharing
Share text includes the start, target, moves, par and hint count but never the intermediate answer route.
What counts as a valid move?
Every rung must contain exactly five letters, appear in the same local validation dictionary as the Five-Letter Word game, differ from the previous rung in exactly one position, and not repeat a word already used in the current ladder.
Par is not an editorial guess. The release QA reconstructs the full one-letter graph across all 8,636 accepted five-letter words and independently proves the displayed distance for every bundled source. The stored route is one shortest route, not the only route you are allowed to use.
If you take a valid detour, Hint does not force you back to the original stored chain. It searches from your current word to the target and reports the next position and letter on a fresh shortest path. Using Hint is visible in the saved result and reduces the game score.
Daily or unlimited?
Today's route
One date-stable ladder, local daily history and a streak that advances only when today's puzzle is solved.
UNLIMITEDFresh Practice
Repeat Easy, Standard, Hard or Mixed verified ladders without waiting for the next date.
HOW IT WORKSWord Ladder Game
See the unlimited mode, route lengths and solver-verification contract in one place.
Why keep the Daily ladder separate?
The platform already has a scored six-game Daily set, so this specialist puzzle does not silently expand that contract or make a missed ladder count against the main streak.
Daily Word Ladder is meant to be a focused side ritual: one stable word transformation for the date, with its own local history and streak. That separation matters for trust. Someone who has used Today’s 6 for weeks should not wake up to a seventh required game because a new search feature was added later. The main Daily rotation stays exactly where it was, while ladder fans get a date-stable puzzle of their own.
The date controls also make the mode useful beyond a single visit. You can move backward to a prior local date and replay that exact ladder, compare your new route with the verified par, or try to solve it without a Hint. Past-day solves stay in ladder history but do not extend the current-day streak. Future dates remain unavailable, so there is no need for a server clock, account, or pre-generated online archive.
If one puzzle a day is not enough, Unlimited Practice uses the same verified source bank with Easy, Standard, Hard and Mixed entry points. It is the place to test alternate routes, use Undo freely, learn common one-letter transitions, and chase setup bests. The Daily and Unlimited modes share the same move rules and validation dictionary, so improvement transfers naturally without changing what the Daily puzzle means.