How to play Crossclimb: rules and tips to win

Crossclimb, a word ladder to rebuild

Crossclimb is a word puzzle where seven five-letter terms stack up into a ladder. The rule holding the whole thing together is simple: from one rung to the next, a single letter changes. You move from SLEEP to SWEEP, then from SWEEP to SWEET, each rung transformed by one letter and one only. Rebuilding that full ladder, top to bottom, is the goal of a game.

The puzzle does not hand you all seven words at once. It first gives you five clues for the five middle words, shown in a deliberately shuffled order. Once those five words are found and correctly arranged, a final clue describes the two end words, the one that tops the ladder and the one that closes it at the bottom. Our version is played for free and with no sign-up, in English as well as French.

The game therefore unfolds in three clear beats: solve the five clues, reorder the words into a valid ladder, then guess the two ends. Each of these steps has its own reflexes, and telling them apart is how you improve quickly.

Step by step: the exact mechanic

Solve the five clues

The game opens on five clues, each with an input field. Each clue describes one five-letter word, only one, and you solve them in any order you like: start with the ones you are sure of, let the others ripen. The input is strict: the game expects exactly five letters, and a close but wrong word, off by one letter for instance, is refused. This strictness is no whim: the whole ladder rests on differences of exactly one letter, so each rung must be right to the character.

Reorder the words into a ladder

Once the five words are found, they appear stacked, but rarely in the right order. Using the up and down buttons, you move them until each pair of neighbours differs by a single letter. Crucial for your score: reordering is entirely free. You can move the words as many times as needed, fumble, backtrack, without ever losing a point. As long as one pair of neighbours differs by two letters or more, the ladder stays incomplete; when every step is one letter, it is validated.

Guess the two ends

With the middle ladder correctly arranged, a final clue is revealed. It describes the two missing words: the top one, one letter from the first word you placed, and the bottom one, one letter from the last. You type them in to complete all seven rungs and close the puzzle. These last two entries follow the same strict rule as the five opening clues.

The scoring: 1000 points, minus 100 per mistake

A puzzle's score never depends on how long you spend thinking, but on the number of mistakes made. Each puzzle starts with a stock of 1000 points. Two actions, and only two, cost 100 points each: typing a word that does not match a clue, and guessing a wrong word for one of the two ends. Reordering the ladder, by contrast, never costs anything.

The drop happens in steps of 100: 900 points after one mistake, 800 after two, 700 after three, and so on. It stops at a floor of 200 points, reached at the eighth mistake. From there the score stays locked at 200, no matter how many further mistakes follow: a hard puzzle is always rewarded, never brought down to zero. The clean solve, which keeps the full 1000 points, remains the goal of regular players.

This scoring rewards careful reading rather than speed. Since sorting the words is free, there is no rush when building the ladder: the only risk to your score is the entries. Better, then, to type a word once you are sure of it than to pile up blind attempts.

Strategies to climb higher

Look for the shared letter family. The seven words of a ladder share a very close backbone: often three or four identical letters, with only one position varying from rung to rung. Spotting that common skeleton, for example the S..EP pattern in SHEEP, SLEEP, SWEEP, helps as much to guess the missing words as to find their order.

Treat sorting as a rough draft, not an exam. Since moving words up and down costs no points, use it freely to test arrangements. Place two words you believe are neighbours side by side, check they differ by only one letter, and carry on step by step. This is a logic puzzle disguised as a vocabulary game: the right order is deduced, not guessed.

Save the ends for last, but anticipate them. The top word is one letter from the first rung, the bottom one one letter from the last. As soon as your middle ladder is stable, look at its two tips: which letters could be changed to form a common word? You will often have a solid hypothesis before the final clue even appears.

Only spend your entries when you are sure. Since only wrong answers cost points, the best discipline is to validate a word only when it fits the clue and respects the one-letter constraint with its neighbours. In doubt? Reorder, reread the clue, compare the letters: all of that is free.

Unblock yourself with the Hint button. On every unsolved clue and every end, a Hint button reveals the next letter of the word, one at a time, and the word is validated automatically once all its letters are revealed: a stuck player therefore always finishes the ladder. Each letter costs 100 points, like a mistake, except for Premium members for whom the hint is free.

Common mistakes to avoid

Validating a word before checking the rung

The most frequent mistake is typing a word that answers the clue well, but differs by two letters from its logical neighbour. The word may be right on substance, yet if it does not slot into the ladder, it costs you time and sometimes points. Before validating, always ask: can this word sit one letter away from another already found?

Forgetting that sorting is free

Many beginners hesitate to move the words, as if every move were risky. It is the opposite: reordering costs nothing. Depriving yourself of that free tool means giving up the best way to explore the puzzle without denting your score.

Chasing synonyms or near-misses

The check is strict and expects a precise five-letter word. Offering a synonym, a rough plural or a word one letter off will be refused and count as a mistake. Reread the clue word for word rather than betting on a variant.

The three game modes

Progression mode is the training ground: puzzles of rising difficulty, free and unlimited, to get a feel for the ladder mechanic without pressure. This is where you build the right reflexes before aiming for the clean solve.

The daily challenge offers a single puzzle, the same one for every player, renewed each day. Clearing it keeps your streak of consecutive days alive, visible on your account page, and feeds your badges. It is the ideal daily fixture for a regular player.

The weekly challenge adds a special puzzle each week, in the same shared spirit. Between the daily and the weekly challenge, you have everything to measure your progress over time, streak after streak. This daily-fixture format was not born on a website: LinkedIn launched Crossclimb in its suite of mini-games, alongside Queens, Tango and Pinpoint, with a fresh puzzle every day. You will find that same principle here, extended into unlimited games.

Frequently asked questions

How many words are in a Crossclimb ladder?

Seven five-letter words. Five carry a clue to solve in the middle, the two ends are guessed at the finish thanks to a final clue.

Does reordering the words cost points?

No, never. Moving words up and down to build the ladder is entirely free. Only two things cost 100 points: a wrong entry on a clue, and a wrong end word.

What is the maximum score?

1000 points per puzzle, kept if you make no mistakes. Each mistake removes 100 points, down to a floor of 200 reached at the eighth mistake.

Do I have to solve the clues in the order shown?

No. The five clues appear in a shuffled order and are solved freely. Order only matters at the next step, when you arrange the words into a valid ladder.