← Back to today’s gamePUZZLE #204 · MAR 6, 2026

LAKE to POOP.

6 moves. 31 equally short routes. Here is one way through.

  1. STARTlakeYour starting word
  2. 01cakeL → C
  3. 02cameK → M
  4. 03campE → P
  5. 04compA → O
  6. 05coopM → O
  7. 06poopC → P · Made it!

The first move matters.

LAKE has 15 valid one-letter neighbors in this dictionary. 7 of them can begin a shortest path:

CAKELACELAMELIKESAKETAKEWAKE

Each of these leaves 5 moves to POOP. The other 8 neighbors are valid moves too, but cannot reach the target in the minimum from this starting word.

Follow the changes

The highlighted letter beside each step shows exactly which position changed. This historical solution uses the original puzzle’s dictionary and minimum move count. Other shortest routes can take different intermediate words.

Explore more past puzzles →
Explore shortest alternatives (31 total)

Showing 20 of 31 paths.

LAKE → CAKE → CAME → CAMP → COMP → COOP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → CAME → CAMP → COMP → POMP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → CAME → COME → COMP → COOP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → CAME → COME → COMP → POMP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → CAME → COME → POME → POMP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → COKE → COME → COMP → COOP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → COKE → COME → COMP → POMP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → COKE → COME → POME → POMP → POOP

LAKE → CAKE → COKE → POKE → POME → POMP → POOP

LAKE → LACE → LACK → LOCK → LOOK → LOOP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → CAME → CAMP → COMP → COOP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → CAME → CAMP → COMP → POMP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → CAME → COME → COMP → COOP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → CAME → COME → COMP → POMP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → CAME → COME → POME → POMP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → DAME → DOME → POME → POMP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → LAMP → CAMP → COMP → COOP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → LAMP → CAMP → COMP → POMP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → LAMP → LIMP → PIMP → POMP → POOP

LAKE → LAME → LAMP → LUMP → PUMP → POMP → POOP