Play Poople
Word ladder solver / CHUG
STARTING-WORD GUIDE

CHUG to POOP.

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

8minimum moves
4shortest routes
Harddistance-based rating

A shortest path from CHUG.

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

  1. StartCHUGThe starting word; no move used
  2. Move 1CHUBReplace G with B in position 4
  3. Move 2CLUBReplace H with L in position 2
  4. Move 3CLUEReplace B with E in position 4
  5. Move 4FLUEReplace C with F in position 1
  6. Move 5FLOEReplace U with O in position 3
  7. Move 6FLOPReplace E with P in position 4
  8. Move 7PLOPReplace F with P in position 1
  9. Move 8POOPReplace L with O in position 2
Compare 4 shortest routes
  1. CHUG · CHUB · CLUB · CLUE · FLUE · FLOE · FLOP · PLOP · POOP
  2. CHUG · CHUB · CLUB · FLUB · FLAB · FLAP · FLOP · PLOP · POOP
  3. CHUG · CHUB · CLUB · FLUB · FLAB · FLAP · PLAP · PLOP · POOP
  4. CHUG · CHUB · CLUB · FLUB · FLUE · FLOE · FLOP · PLOP · POOP

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

Which first moves work?

One next word keeps you on a shortest route from CHUG: CHUB.

The table lists all 3 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
CHUB78Shortest route
CHUM89Longer route
THUG89Longer route

Why 8 moves is the minimum.

CHUG 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 CHUG 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.