MIND
1. ____ Gentle, like a salsa that won’t burn your mouth
2. ____ Where grain is ground into flour
3. ____ A big indoor shopping center
4. ____ What the carrier brings to your box
5. ____ Canvas that catches the wind
6. ____ What a gardener digs and plants in
SOUL
💡 Hint
Work from both ends. The last rung must be one letter away from SOUL, and the first rung one letter away from MIND, so check every neighboring pair differs in one spot.
Reveal answer
MIND → MILD → MILL → MALL → MAIL → SAIL → SOIL → SOUL
Step-by-step solution
- MIND to MILD: change N to L. Mild salsa is gentle on the mouth.
- MILD to MILL: change D to L. A mill grinds grain into flour.
- MILL to MALL: change I to A. A mall is a big indoor shopping center.
- MALL to MAIL: change the first L to I. The carrier brings the mail.
- MAIL to SAIL: change M to S. A sail catches the wind.
- SAIL to SOIL to SOUL: change A to O for the gardener’s soil, then I to U to reach SOUL. Every step changes exactly one letter, which we confirmed letter by letter in code.
Why it fools people
Word ladders feel easy because each step is tiny, but the brain naturally thinks in meanings, not in letters. When you read “where grain is ground,” you picture a building, not a pattern of letters, and the first word that comes to mind may be a synonym that doesn’t fit. The skill the puzzle trains is holding two things at once: the meaning of the clue and the shape of the word above it.
Did you get it?
About This Puzzle
Word ladders are simple to explain and surprisingly absorbing to solve. You start with one word and finish with another, changing a single letter at each step, and every step along the way has to be a real word. This ladder travels from MIND to SOUL in seven steps, passing through some very ordinary places on the way: the grocery aisle, the post office, the harbor and the backyard garden. To keep it fair, each rung comes with its own clue, so there is only one correct ladder. All of the words are common, everyday English, and none of them is a proper name or an abbreviation.
How to Think About It
Work from both ends at once. Compare each clue with the word just above it and ask which single letter could change. MIND and the first clue share three letters, so only one position needs to move. Then look at the bottom of the ladder: the last clue must be one letter away from SOUL, which gives you three fixed letters to work with. When you meet in the middle, check every rung by covering all but two adjacent words. Exactly one letter should differ between them, in the same position.
Common Traps
The most common mistake is changing two letters in one step because the clue seems obvious. For example, it is easy to jump from the grain clue straight to “store” or “shop” for the shopping clue, but those words don’t fit four letters or the one-letter rule. Another trap is choosing a synonym that is the right length but in the wrong letter pattern: “post” for the carrier clue or “dirt” for the gardener clue. Both are good answers to the clue, but neither is one letter away from its neighbors.
Where This Puzzle Comes From
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, introduced this kind of puzzle in 1879 under the name “Doublets,” and it has been a favorite of puzzle columns ever since. Carroll liked to pair words with a natural link, such as turning one thing into its opposite. Adding a clue to every rung, as here, is a common modern twist that guarantees a single solution.
Try This Variation
Now try one without clues. Turn PAGE into BOOK in six steps, changing one letter at a time. Every rung must be a common English word. Hint: you’ll pass through a word that means “speed,” one that means “a bundle carried on your back,” and one that means “to fasten with a key.”
Show the answer to the variation
PAGE → PACE → PACK → LACK → LOCK → LOOK → BOOK. Change G to C, E to K, P to L, A to O, C to O, and finally L to B. Each rung is a common word, and each step changes exactly one letter in the same position.