What does “shortest” really mean?

A shortest path is a precise claim: no valid sequence in this dictionary gets from the start to the target with fewer changes.

Try COLD to WARM

1. STARTcoldYour starting word
2. 01cordL → R
3. 02wordC → W
4. 03wardO → A
5. 04warmD → M · Made it!

This is a four-move solution. Four positions differ between COLD and WARM, so at least four one-letter changes are necessary. This valid four-step route reaches that lower bound, proving it is shortest.

Think of words as a map

Imagine each accepted word as a point. Draw a line between two points whenever their words differ in exactly one position. COLD connects to CORD; CORD connects to WORD; WORD connects to WARD. Your ladder is a walk along those lines.

To find the minimum, breadth-first search checks every one-move neighbor first. Then it checks all new words two moves away, then three, and so on. The first layer containing the target gives the minimum distance.

One answer can have several routes

Another four-move route is COLD → CORD → WORD → WORM → WARM. Both sequences have the same length, even though their penultimate words differ. The solver keeps these alternatives and counts every shortest path.

For this edition, COLD to WARM has 7 shortest paths. We display at most 20 paths for any query and show the total separately. The display limit never changes the minimum or the total count.

The dictionary is part of the puzzle

Add a new accepted word and you might create a shortcut. Remove a word and you might close one. This is why comparing a score with another website’s minimum can be misleading even when the two games share a starting word.

We version the dictionary and calculate gameplay, examples and solutions from it. This edition currently uses word-list-4.1.0-poople-1. Its source is the word-list project, with filtering and a target-word addition recorded in our data manifest.

Use the answer to learn a connection

A shortest path is useful feedback, not the only enjoyable way to play. Try the puzzle first, then use the solver to understand one unfamiliar bridge. The next time you meet that word, you will have another direction to try.