Learn Lexiladder
Five ways to climb a ladder with fewer wrong guesses. The ladder and the clues each tell you half the story; these are about getting both halves working together.
- Climb from both ends
- Spend the freebies
- One letter at a time
- Clue first, ladder second
- Wrong guesses are data
1. Climb from both ends
Solve the top and bottom rungs first: the middle ones are then pinned between two known words.
The top and bottom rungs each touch only one other word, so their clues are the ones to crack on their own. Once both ends are in, the two middle rungs are squeezed: each has to be one letter away from the word above and one letter away from the word below.
That squeeze is strong. Between two known four-letter words there are usually only a handful of real words that fit, and often just one. If you can’t get an end rung, take whichever clue you’re surest of instead and build out from it in both directions.
2. Spend the freebies
Shaded tiles, the final answer’s letters and free non-word tries are all help the ladder gives away.
The ladder gives some things away. The shaded tile on each rung shows which position changes, so you know which letter to rethink and which to keep. Each rung you solve drops its shaded letter into the final answer row. Typos and made-up words are turned away without counting.
Use all of it. Two shaded letters often give the three-letter final answer away, and solving the final answer early hands you the shaded letter of every rung that’s still open. A rung where you know the changed letter and its position is half solved before you read the clue.
3. One letter at a time
Each rung is the one above with a single letter changed, so a solved rung leaves very few options next to it.
Every rung is the word above it with exactly one letter changed. So a solved rung tells you all but one letter of its neighbors, and the shaded tile tells you which letter that is. You’re never guessing a whole word, just one letter in a known spot.
Try running the alphabet through the shaded position in your head. If ROAD’s first letter is the one that changes, it could become LOAD, TOAD or GOAD. Most swaps don’t make a word, and the ones that do are a short list to hold up against the clue.
4. Clue first, ladder second
Lots of real words fit the ladder; only the clue picks the right one, so read it before you type.
Once a rung’s neighbors are in, plenty of real words will fit the ladder, and every one of them counts as a guess. The ladder narrows the field, but only the clue tells you which word it is. Read the clue, form an idea, then check it against the ladder, not the other way round.
Clues are short, so look for the second meaning: a noun that’s also a verb, a word used in an expression. If two words fit both the ladder and the clue, think about which fits more naturally before you type, since a wrong real word counts against you.
5. Wrong guesses are data
A real word that’s wrong tells you your reading of the clue is off: change the reading, not just the letter.
A guess that’s a real word but the wrong answer still tells you something: the way you read the clue, or the letter you assumed, is off. Changing one letter and trying again usually repeats the mistake. Step back and reread the clue in a different sense first.
Your score is your wrong guesses, and the same wrong word only counts once, so there’s no point retrying it. If you’re stuck on a rung, leave it and solve a different one. Its letters will narrow the stuck rung down from the other side.
Try them out: play today’s daily or an unlimited game.