PUZZLE #456 · NOV 12, 2026

LINE to POOP.

5 moves. 19 equally short routes. Here is one way through.

  1. STARTlineYour starting word
  2. 01limeN → M
  3. 02limpE → P
  4. 03pimpL → P
  5. 04pompI → O
  6. 05poopM → O · Made it!

The first move matters.

LINE has 36 valid one-letter neighbors in this dictionary. 7 of them can begin a shortest path:

LIMELINKLINNLINSLINTLONEPINE

Each of these leaves 4 moves to POOP. The other 29 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. The sequence above is computed from the same dictionary as the game. Other shortest routes can take different intermediate words.

Compare routes in the solver →
Explore shortest alternatives (19 total)

Showing 19 of 19 paths.

LINE → LIME → LIMP → PIMP → POMP → POOP

LINE → LIME → LOME → POME → POMP → POOP

LINE → LINK → PINK → PONK → POOK → POOP

LINE → LINN → LION → LOON → LOOP → POOP

LINE → LINS → PINS → PONS → POOS → POOP

LINE → LINT → PINT → PONT → POOT → POOP

LINE → LONE → LOME → POME → POMP → POOP

LINE → LONE → LOWE → LOWP → LOOP → POOP

LINE → LONE → PONE → POME → POMP → POOP

LINE → LONE → PONE → PONK → POOK → POOP

LINE → LONE → PONE → PONS → POOS → POOP

LINE → LONE → PONE → PONT → POOT → POOP

LINE → PINE → PINK → PONK → POOK → POOP

LINE → PINE → PINS → PONS → POOS → POOP

LINE → PINE → PINT → PONT → POOT → POOP

LINE → PINE → PONE → POME → POMP → POOP

LINE → PINE → PONE → PONK → POOK → POOP

LINE → PINE → PONE → PONS → POOS → POOP

LINE → PINE → PONE → PONT → POOT → POOP