Poople answer archive

Poople #445 answer: PANG to POOP in 6 guesses (November 3, 2026)

The Poople puzzle for November 3, 2026 starts from PANG. The shortest ladder to POOP takes 6 guesses, and there are 13 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 #445 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 PANG

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

1. PANG → BANG → BONG → BONK → BOOK → BOOP → POOP
2. PANG → BANG → BANK → BONK → BOOK → BOOP → POOP
3. PANG → HANG → HANK → HONK → HOOK → HOOP → POOP
4. PANG → PONG → BONG → BONK → BOOK → BOOP → POOP
5. PANG → PONG → PONS → CONS → COOS → COOP → POOP
6. PANG → PONG → PONY → POLY → POLL → POOL → POOP
7. PANG → PANE → PALE → POLE → POME → POMP → POOP
8. PANG → PANE → PALE → POLE → POLL → POOL → POOP

5 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

PANG has 14 legal neighbours in the original word list (change one letter, still a word). 5 of the 14 legal first moves keep you on par: BANG, HANG, PANE, PANS, PONG. Moves that cost exactly one extra guess: DANG, FANG, GANG, PANT, PING, RANG, SANG, TANG, YANG.

How #445 compares

Par 6 puts #445 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 #445 yourself

Same starting word, same word list as the original, with undo and hints. Replays don't touch your streak. Play #445

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.