Poople answer archive

Poople #403 answer: PETS to POOP in 5 guesses (September 22, 2026)

The Poople puzzle for September 22, 2026 starts from PETS. The shortest ladder to POOP takes 5 guesses, and there are 4 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 #403 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 PETS

4 different ladders reach POOP in 5 guesses from PETS. Here they all are, the first using the most common words:

1. PETS → BETS → BOTS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP
2. PETS → POTS → BOTS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP
3. PETS → POTS → COTS → COOS → COOP → POOP
4. PETS → PEES → PEEP → PREP → PROP → POOP

First moves: which keep par and which don't

PETS has 19 legal neighbours in the original word list (change one letter, still a word). 3 of the 19 legal first moves keep you on par: BETS, PEES, POTS. Moves that cost exactly one extra guess: GETS, JETS, LETS, NETS, PATS, PEAS, PECS, PEGS, PENS, PEPS, PEWS, PITS, PUTS, SETS, VETS, WETS.

How #403 compares

Par 5 is the most common Poople length: about 54% of all puzzles so far have par 5. 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 4 guesses.

Replay Poople #403 yourself

Same starting word, same word list as the original, with undo and hints. Replays don't touch your streak. Play #403

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.