POOPLE #84 · 6 Nov 2025

PEAR to POOP.

A little help for this word ladder. Open only the hints you need.

5shortest moves

5shortest paths

Easyour distance-based rating

01A gentle nudgeJust the shortest length. No words revealed.

You can get from PEAR to POOP in 5 moves. That means 6 words, including the start.

02A little more directionFind out which letter to change first.

One shortest route starts by changing letter 1. You do not have to match a letter in POOP on every move.

03Your first stepping stoneReveal the first word of a shortest route.

Try BEAR. From there, you have 4 moves left.BEAR

04The full answerReady? Reveal every step to POOP.

PEAR · BEAR · BOAR · BOOR · BOOP · POOP

StartPEARYour starting word
Move 1BEARP — B · letter 1
Move 2BOARE — O · letter 2
Move 3BOORA — O · letter 3
Move 4BOOPR — P · letter 4
Move 5POOPB — P · letter 1

5 shortest paths in the checked word list. View the full explanation

Every step, explained.

Full solution below. Stop here if you want to keep solving.

StartPEARYour starting word
Move 1BEARP — B · letter 1
Move 2BOARE — O · letter 2
Move 3BOORA — O · letter 3
Move 4BOOPR — P · letter 4
Move 5POOPB — P · letter 1

All 5 equivalent shortest paths

PEAR · BEAR · BOAR · BOOR · BOOP · POOP
PEAR · BEAR · BOAR · BOOR · POOR · POOP
PEAR · PEAT · PLAT · PLAP · PLOP · POOP
PEAR · PEAT · PLAT · PLOT · PLOP · POOP
PEAR · PEER · PEEP · PREP · PROP · POOP

Choices at every step

Legal choices change one letter. Shortest-route choices also reduce the remaining distance by one; the counts below refer to the route shown above.

Word	Legal choices	On a shortest route	Next words on a shortest route
PEAR	16	3	BEAR, PEAT, PEER
BEAR	19	1	BOAR
BOAR	7	1	BOOR
BOOR	11	2	BOOP, POOR
BOOP	12	1	POOP

THE FIRST STEP

3 ways to move closer.

From PEAR, these words reduce the remaining shortest distance by one:

BEAR, PEAT, PEER

What about the other moves?

DEAR (5 remaining); FEAR (5 remaining); GEAR (5 remaining); HEAR (5 remaining); NEAR (5 remaining); PEAK (5 remaining); PEAL (5 remaining); PEAS (5 remaining); REAR (5 remaining); SEAR (5 remaining); TEAR (5 remaining); WEAR (5 remaining); YEAR (5 remaining).

These moves are valid, but do not lie on a shortest route from PEAR.

Try a different position

Why this is a shortest path

Our solver searches the checked word list one move at a time. PEAR first reaches POOP at distance 5; no shorter route exists in that list.

Difficulty here is based only on move count: up to 5 is Easy, 6 is Moderate, 7 is Tricky, 8 is Hard, and 9 or more is Expert.

How we check answers

Historical entry reconstructed from the official schedule available on 10 Nov 2026. Source and verification details.