ladder vs steps

ladder and steps both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
ladder	Yes	No	Yes	No
steps	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, steps is a hypernym of ladder; that is, steps is a word with a broader meaning than ladder:

ladder: steps consisting of two parallel members connected by rungs; for climbing up or down
steps: a flight of stairs or a flight of steps

Other hypernyms of ladder include stairs.

ladder (noun)	steps (noun)
steps consisting of two parallel members connected by rungs; for climbing up or down	a flight of stairs or a flight of steps
a row of unravelled stitches	the course along which a person has walked or is walking in
ascending stages by which somebody or something can progress

ladder (verb)	steps (verb)
come unraveled or undone as if by snagging