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Five-letter word ladders
Same rules, sparser graph, longer ladders. Here is what changes.
The same rules on a sparser graph
The rules do not change when the words get longer. A word ladder is a chain of words of the same length where each step changes exactly one letter, and every intermediate has to be a real word. What changes is the room you have to move. Four-letter word graphs are denser than five-letter ones, and the difference is easy to feel at the keyboard. With four letters, a step leaves three letters fixed, and plenty of words share those three. With five letters, a step leaves four fixed, and the words that share those four are fewer. Every rung is still legal, but each word has fewer places to go.
Fewer valid moves, longer ladders
Par is the number of steps in the shortest possible ladder, and it is found by exhaustive search rather than estimated. On a sparser graph there are fewer shortcuts between two words, so the shortest route usually takes more steps. That is the practical difference: a five-letter ladder tends to run longer than a four-letter one. Longer routes punish drift. On a short ladder a loose move can often be repaired; on a longer one the same move costs a step and can carry you away from the goal. The number is fixed for each puzzle, so a route that works can still sit several steps above par.
The habit that survives the change is planning a few rungs ahead, not one rung at a time. Note the positions where the start and goal differ, and treat any word that matches more of them as progress worth considering. It is not always progress, because a short route may move away from the goal first, but it gives you a reason for a step rather than a guess.
Where the vowels sit
A step changes one letter and holds the rest, so a word's vowel pattern travels with you until you spend a move on it. At five letters that pattern has more room to constrain you. A vowel in the first position is a different problem from the same vowel in the middle, since the letters around it stay fixed. Look at a route as a series of frames. Each frame keeps four letters, and the vowels inside it decide which consonant swaps remain legal. If a vowel sits in a position that few words of that shape support, treat it as expensive and change it early, while you still have room to recover.
Search from both ends
Bidirectional search means building the ladder from both ends at once. Start a chain forward from the start word and another backward from the goal, then look for a word the two chains share. A backward chain helps because a word one step from the goal is a target you can aim at rather than a vague endpoint, and on a five-letter puzzle a route can wander for several steps before it turns. Hints follow the same idea. Up to three hints are available per puzzle, and a hint reveals one letter of a shortest route, so it tells you what the route does rather than what your next word is.
The daily puzzle and its word list
Rung a Day sets one puzzle a day, the same for everyone, and it resets at local midnight with no account needed. That rhythm suits a longer ladder, because a five-letter route can stall before it turns. The word list is strict. Obscure words, dialect words and proper nouns are rejected, so a word you are certain exists may not be accepted, and a route that looks open can close at that point. Check a doubtful word before you build a plan around it. When you stall, a hint is a better use of the attempt than a restart.
Questions
Are five-letter ladders always harder than four-letter ones?
No. They are usually longer, because five-letter word graphs are sparser than four-letter ones and offer fewer one-letter shortcuts. A particular puzzle can still be short if its two words sit close together. Par is found by exhaustive search, so the real number is settled per puzzle.
Why does vowel placement matter more at five letters?
Each step holds all but one letter, so the vowels you leave alone keep shaping what you can change next. With fewer valid neighbours at five letters, an awkward vowel narrows your options for longer, which makes it worth changing early.
What is bidirectional search?
It means growing a chain from the start and another from the goal at the same time, then joining them where they meet. It keeps both ends of the problem in view and turns the goal into a set of concrete words one step away.
How many hints does a puzzle allow?
Up to three hints are available per puzzle. Each one reveals a single letter of a shortest route, so it points at what the route does rather than handing you the next word. Spend them when two routes look equally good.
Play today’s ladder → one puzzle a day, about two minutes.