Question 1

What is a word ladder?

Accepted Answer

A word ladder (also called a doublet or word chain) is a word puzzle where you transform one word into another by changing one letter at a time. Each intermediate step must be a valid dictionary word. The puzzle was invented by Lewis Carroll in 1877.

Question 2

How does the word ladder solver work?

Accepted Answer

Enter a start word and end word of the same length. The solver uses a breadth-first search algorithm to find the shortest possible chain of single-letter changes between the two words, where every step is a valid dictionary word.

Question 3

What are some famous word ladder examples?

Accepted Answer

Classic word ladders include: COLD→WARM (COLD→CORD→WORD→WORM→WARM), HEAD→TAIL (HEAD→HEAL→TEAL→TELL→TALL→TAIL), and CAT→DOG (CAT→COT→COG→DOG). The challenge is finding the shortest path.

Question 4

Can all word pairs be connected in a word ladder?

Accepted Answer

No, not all word pairs have a valid ladder. The words must be the same length, and there must exist a chain of valid words connecting them. Some words are isolated — they can't connect to many others through single-letter changes.

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