A small guide to the next step.

The idea is simple.

You begin with a four-letter word. Your destination is FEET. To move, change exactly one letter in exactly one position, making another valid four-letter word. Keep going until you reach the destination.

You cannot rearrange the letters, add a letter or remove one. Every word in the chain has to be in our dictionary. Here is a complete example:

1. SEED
2. FEED
3. FEET

SEED becomes FEED by changing the first letter. FEED becomes FEET by changing the last. That is two steps; the starting word itself is not counted.

Make your first move.

1. Look at the last submitted word on the board.
2. Type all four letters of your next word, using a physical keyboard or the on-screen keys.
3. Press Enter to submit it.
4. If the move is valid, the changed letter lights up and a new row appears.

Backspace deletes the last letter in your current input. Once you submit a word, it stays in the ladder. You can revisit an earlier word with a valid move, but that adds another step.

What the messages mean

• Need 4 letters: fill all four squares before submitting.
• Change exactly one letter: compare your word with the previous row. One position must change, and the other three must stay the same.
• Not in word list: try another word. We use a fixed American English dictionary, without proper names or abbreviations.

An invalid submission does not add a step. Your letters stay in the input row so you can fix them.

Try to match par.

Each starting word has a par: the minimum number of moves to FEET in our dictionary. A puzzle with par 5 can be solved in five steps. If your route takes seven, your result is two extra steps.

There is no maximum number of moves. Reaching FEET is a win even if you take the scenic route. Several routes can share the same par, and all are accepted.

Three ways to think about a ladder

1. Work backward for a moment.

The final move must come from a neighbour of FEET. FEED, FEEL, FRET and MEET are useful examples. Instead of asking only how to reach FEET, ask how to reach one of those words.

2. Give every position a chance.

Changing a vowel is often easy to spot, but don't neglect the first and last letters. A word with several valid neighbours gives you more options than one with a single exit.

3. Let yourself move away.

A letter that already matches the destination may need to change again. Matching letters are not locked. Word ladders follow real words, so a useful detour can beat an apparently direct route.

Build a daily ritual.

The daily puzzle resets at 08:00 UTC. All players share the same start. Solve on consecutive puzzle days to build a streak; a missed puzzle day breaks it. Your browser saves your current ladder and completed daily results.

For more practice, try Unlimited. These rounds use the same rules but do not affect your daily streak and are not saved when you leave. For a nudge after a puzzle has finished, visit the Answers archive.