Poople answer archive

Poople #342 answer: WARY to POOP in 6 guesses (July 23, 2026)

The Poople puzzle for July 23, 2026 starts from WARY. The shortest ladder to POOP takes 6 guesses, and there are 10 different shortest routes. Here is one of them, using the most common words:

Puzzle numbers follow the original game, which switches to a new word at 08:00 UTC.

Want to play instead of peeking?

Replay Poople #342 yourself in the archive: same starting word, same word list, with undo and hints. Or play today's Poople and the unlimited mode. Curious about a ladder of your own? The Poople solver finds the shortest path between any two four-letter words.

Every shortest ladder from WARY

10 different ladders reach POOP in 6 guesses from WARY. Here are 8 of them, the first using the most common words:

1. WARY → WARD → WORD → WOOD → GOOD → GOOP → POOP
2. WARY → WARD → WORD → WOOD → HOOD → HOOP → POOP
3. WARY → WARD → WORD → WOOD → WOOF → POOF → POOP
4. WARY → WARD → WORD → WOOD → WOOL → POOL → POOP
5. WARY → WARE → PARE → PORE → POME → POMP → POOP
6. WARY → WARE → WORE → PORE → POME → POMP → POOP
7. WARY → WARN → BARN → BORN → BOON → BOOP → POOP
8. WARY → WARN → WORN → BORN → BOON → BOOP → POOP

2 more shortest ladders exist beyond these 8; the solver below can list routes from any word.

First moves: which keep par and which don't

WARY has 12 legal neighbours in the original word list (change one letter, still a word). 4 of the 12 legal first moves keep you on par: WARD, WARE, WARN, WARP. Moves that cost exactly one extra guess: WARM, WARS, WART, WIRY. Moves that cost two or more: NARY, VARY, WAVY, WAXY.

How #342 compares

Par 6 puts #342 among the longer puzzles: only 13% of all Pooples so far have needed more guesses. The fastest ladders go through an -OO- word one step from POOP (LOOP, HOOP, COOP, POOL, POOR, POOF); the shortest route above reaches one in 5 guesses.

Replay Poople #342 yourself

Same starting word, same word list as the original, with undo and hints. Replays don't touch your streak. Play #342

How the shortest path is found

Every four-letter word in the game's word list is a node; two words are linked when they differ by one letter. A breadth-first search from POOP gives the minimum number of steps for every word. When several shortest ladders exist, the one shown prefers common words, so it reads naturally — the same idea the original game uses for its "yesterday" solution.