Poople answer archive

Poople #365 answer: WAVE to POOP in 6 guesses (August 15, 2026)

The Poople puzzle for August 15, 2026 starts from WAVE. The shortest ladder to POOP takes 6 guesses, and there are 26 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 #365 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 WAVE

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

1. WAVE → CAVE → COVE → COME → POME → POMP → POOP
2. WAVE → CAVE → COVE → COME → COMP → POMP → POOP
3. WAVE → CAVE → COVE → COME → COMP → COOP → POOP
4. WAVE → CAVE → CAME → COME → POME → POMP → POOP
5. WAVE → CAVE → CAME → COME → COMP → POMP → POOP
6. WAVE → CAVE → CAME → COME → COMP → COOP → POOP
7. WAVE → CAVE → CAME → CAMP → COMP → POMP → POOP
8. WAVE → CAVE → CAME → CAMP → COMP → COOP → POOP

18 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

WAVE has 18 legal neighbours in the original word list (change one letter, still a word). 7 of the 18 legal first moves keep you on par: CAVE, PAVE, SAVE, WAKE, WALE, WARE, WOVE. Moves that cost exactly one extra guess: EAVE, FAVE, GAVE, HAVE, LAVE, NAVE, RAVE, WADE, WAGE, WANE. Moves that cost two or more: WAVY.

How #365 compares

Par 6 puts #365 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 #365 yourself

Same starting word, same word list as the original, with undo and hints. Replays don't touch your streak. Play #365

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.