Milk to beer in 7 steps:
milk
mill
bill
bell
belt
beat
bear
beer
Milk
Mirk
Merk
Meek
Meer
Beer
There is no word like lader. If you meant ladder, the steps of a ladder are called rungs.
rungs
rung
Here is the classic one: (perfect 4 steps) cold cord card/word ward/worm warm
Here is one: (5 steps) work pork port post pest rest
Old English hlǣdder; related to Old High German leitara, meaning steps.
One version is (6 steps) kale pale pare park perk peek leek
One would be (6 steps) dead lead lend land lane line live
Here is one solution: (4 steps) add aid rid rim rum sum
No, the word "ladder" does not have a long vowel sound. The vowel sound in "ladder" is short.
Yes, the word ladder is pronounced with a short a.
step ladder