Ducklark Games / Stepword ladders / Ladder #20

Stepword #20: Follow BIRDS to the RIVER

“Follow BIRDS to the RIVER” was Stepword’s story for Oct 25, 2026. The ladder, number 20, begins with BIRDS and ends with RIVER, and the fewest steps between them is 6.

Ladder #20 at a glance

• Date: Sunday, October 25, 2026
• Start word: BIRDS
• Goal word: RIVER
• Par: 6 steps
• Word length: 5 letters

BIRDS to RIVER: what par 6 asks

This is one of the longer detours: 4 places differ, and par still comes out at 6. 2 rungs of the best climb cannot be spent on a straight fix.

There is an anchor: I stays in the second position from start to goal. R appears in both words, though not in the same place. Count the vowels and the start word has 1, the goal 2. The game’s list has 2 different ways to climb in par.

• Letter 1: B to R
• Letter 2: I to I (already there)
• Letter 3: R to V
• Letter 4: D to E
• Letter 5: S to R

Where #20 sits among the ladders

4 of the 23 ladders so far have had a par of 6. The day’s story line was “Follow BIRDS to the RIVER”.

How to play day #20

This ladder is recent enough to replay: open #20 here or choose it from the calendar on Stepword’s title screen. Replays are kept apart from your streak and stats.

Play Stepword

The answer ladder is not printed here.

The days around ladder #20

• Stepword #19: Lift a STONE with a SPADE (Oct 24), SPADE to STONE, par 4
• Stepword #21: READ it out LOUD (Oct 26), READ to LOUD, par 3

More days: all Stepword ladders. New here? Start with the guide. For trivia and mini crosswords, see the topics hub.