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Word ladder solver / ALES
STARTING-WORD GUIDE

ALES to POOP.

A reusable word-ladder guide, rather than a dated daily puzzle. Every move below changes exactly one letter.

8minimum moves
7shortest routes
Harddistance-based rating

A shortest path from ALES.

ALES reaches POOP in 8 moves. The list includes 9 words because the starting position costs no move.

  1. StartALESThe starting word; no move used
  2. Move 1ALMSReplace E with M in position 3
  3. Move 2AIMSReplace L with I in position 2
  4. Move 3AIDSReplace M with D in position 3
  5. Move 4BIDSReplace A with B in position 1
  6. Move 5BODSReplace I with O in position 2
  7. Move 6BOOSReplace D with O in position 3
  8. Move 7BOOPReplace S with P in position 4
  9. Move 8POOPReplace B with P in position 1
Compare 7 shortest routes
  1. ALES · ALMS · AIMS · AIDS · BIDS · BODS · BOOS · BOOP · POOP
  2. ALES · ALMS · AIMS · DIMS · DIME · DOME · POME · POMP · POOP
  3. ALES · ALMS · AIMS · DIMS · DOMS · DOME · POME · POMP · POOP
  4. ALES · ALMS · AIMS · RIMS · RAMS · RAMP · ROMP · POMP · POOP
  5. ALES · ALMS · AIMS · RIMS · RUMS · RUMP · PUMP · POMP · POOP
  6. ALES · ALMS · AIMS · RIMS · RUMS · RUMP · ROMP · POMP · POOP
  7. ALES · APES · APED · SPED · SLED · PLED · PLOD · PLOP · POOP

This list contains every shortest route in the checked word list.

Which first moves work?

2 next words keep you on a shortest route from ALES: ALMS, APES.

The table lists all 10 accepted one-letter neighbors. “Moves remaining” starts after that first move. “Total via this word” includes it, so you can compare that choice with the 8-move minimum.

Next wordMoves remainingTotal via this wordResult
ACES89Longer route
AGES89Longer route
ALAS89Longer route
ALBS89Longer route
ALMS78Shortest route
ALPS89Longer route
APES78Shortest route
AVES89Longer route
AWES89Longer route
AXES89Longer route

Why 8 moves is the minimum.

ALES differs from POOP in 4 letter positions, so any route needs at least 4 changes. The accepted intermediate words require a longer route: the first complete connection in our search occurs at 8 moves.

The solver searches the checked word graph in distance order. It reaches every word one move away before trying two moves, then continues until it reaches POOP. The minimum applies to this word list; another game or dictionary may accept different connections.

Our Hard label uses distance only: up to 5 moves is Easy, 6 is Moderate, 7 is Tricky, 8 is Hard, and 9 or more is Expert. It does not measure how familiar you will find each word.

Try ALES with a different target or read the verification method.

More 8-move ladders.

These starting words have the same shortest distance to POOP in the checked list.