A free daily compound word game

Link Ladder is a compound word game you can play free in your browser, once a day. You build a ladder of ten words where every word joins the next to make a compound word or an everyday phrase.

Play today’s ladder

What is a compound word?

A compound word is two words joined to make a new one with its own meaning: snow and ball make snowball, foot and path make footpath. English also has open compounds, written as two words but used as one idea, such as bus stop, post box and room service. Link Ladder uses both kinds.

How the game works

Each ladder is a chain of ten words. The second word of one pair becomes the first word of the next:

That gives SNOWBALL, BALLROOM, ROOM SERVICE and SERVICE STATION. In the game you see the first word in full and the first letter of every other word. You type each word in turn, and after a wrong guess the letters are coloured: green for the right letter in the right place, orange for a letter that’s in the word but somewhere else, and grey for a letter that isn’t in it.

You get three chances at each word. If you miss three times the word is revealed so you can carry on. Four lifelines a day help when you’re stuck: the next letter, a random letter and a clue for two different words.

Why compound words make a good puzzle

• Two-way thinking. Each word has to fit the word before it and the word after it, so you can work backwards as well as forwards.
• Everyday vocabulary. You don’t need obscure words: the challenge is spotting which ordinary pair the puzzle has in mind.
• Short and daily. One ladder takes a few minutes, and everyone gets the same puzzle, so you can compare scores.

Tips for compound word puzzles

• Say the pair out loud. “Room… service” often jumps out faster than reading it.
• Think of places, objects and jobs: many compounds are things you see every day (post box, bus stop, fire station).
• Use the letter count. The number of boxes tells you how long the word is.
• If you’re stuck on a word, look at the next one too: it has to make sense in both directions.

UK English

Link Ladder is written in British English, so you’ll find pavements, post boxes and car parks rather than sidewalks, mailboxes and parking lots.

A new ladder appears every day at midnight UK time. It’s free, with no download and no sign-up needed.

More: How to play · Compound word game · Word chain puzzle · Games like Wordle · Past answers