Word ladders for the classroom
A quick, low-prep way to practice spelling, phonics and vocabulary. Runglio gives you a fresh word ladder every day, free, with no accounts or sign-ups.
What is a word ladder?
A word ladder turns one word into another by changing a single letter at a time, with a real word at every step. For example, COLD becomes WARM like this: COLD, CORD, WORD, WARD, WARM. The puzzle was invented by Lewis Carroll in the 1870s, and word ladders have been a classroom favorite ever since.
What students practice
- Spelling patterns and phonics. Changing one letter shows how a single sound change turns one word into another, like short and long vowels.
- Vocabulary. Every step has to be a real word, so students test and stretch the words they know.
- Flexible thinking. Strong solvers plan ahead and work backward from the target word.
- Perseverance. Dead ends are part of the game, and backing up to try another letter is a skill worth teaching.
Ways to use it
- Warm-up. Show today's puzzle at the start of class and give students three to five minutes on paper or on their own device.
- Partner race. Pairs try the same ladder and compare routes. There is often more than one right answer.
- Printable practice. Use the free printable worksheet, which has twelve ladders and an answer key.
- Review the next day. Open "Yesterday's route" in the game, or any finished puzzle in the past puzzles, to see the shortest route and talk about alternatives.
- Make your own. Students build a ladder for a partner to solve. Writing one is harder than solving one.
Tips
- Start with ladders that take two or three steps, and tell students how many steps there are.
- Let students use letter tiles or write the letters on sticky notes so they can swap one at a time.
- Encourage them to fix the letters that already match the target first, and to change vowels when they get stuck.
- Praise a valid route even if it is longer than the shortest one.
About Runglio in class
- It is free and works in a browser on phones, tablets, laptops and Chromebooks. There is nothing to install.
- There is no sign-up. Runglio does not ask for names or email addresses. See the privacy policy.
- Puzzles use four-letter, everyday English words, and offensive words are filtered out.
- Everyone gets the same puzzle each day, and a new one arrives at midnight Central Time. Each device can play the daily puzzle once, so use the worksheet or the past puzzles for more practice.