Poople answer for November 8, 2026: REPO to POOP
Confirm that your puzzle starts at REPO. If you are playing a different day, use the current answer page to check its status.
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What to notice in this puzzle: The first three moves reduce the remaining shortest distance from seven to four without adding a letter in its final target position. Matching letters alone gives a lower bound, not the actual distance through accepted words. The worked analysis below checks every changed position and explains the seven-step minimum.
Reveal the 7-move solution Full spoiler
REPO → REDO → REDS → BEDS → BODS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP
8 words. 7 changes. A shortest route in the checked official word list; equally short alternatives may exist.
REPO → REDO— position 3, P to D. Keep R, E and the final O. Only the third position changes; the target letter P does not belong in this position.REDO → REDS— position 4, O to S. Keep R, E and D. Change the final O to S; this temporary final letter opens the next connection.REDS → BEDS— position 1, R to B. Keep E, D and S. Change the first letter from R to B, without skipping directly to the target initial P.BEDS → BODS— position 2, E to O. Keep B, D and S. Change the second letter to O, establishing the first correctly positioned target letter on this route.BODS → BOOS— position 3, D to O. Keep B, O and S. Change the third letter from D to O; the two middle letters now match POOP.BOOS → BOOP— position 4, S to P. Keep B and the two middle O letters. Change the last letter from S to P.BOOP → POOP— position 1, B to P. Keep O, O and P. Change the initial B to P to reach the target.
Why this route works
This Poople answer belongs to November 8, 2026, puzzle #451, starting at REPO. It uses eight words and seven moves. The route is REPO to REDO to REDS to BEDS to BODS to BOOS to BOOP to POOP. Every transition changes exactly one position, and all eight words belong to the accepted-word set in the checked official runtime. The official distance table and an independent breadth-first search agree on a minimum of seven moves for this starting word. This is one shortest route in that snapshot, not a claim that every intermediate word is forced. The evidence is a source and algorithm check, not a replay through the official interface. Keep the game date, starting word and dictionary scope attached to the result when you compare it with your own attempt.
The opening: useful progress without a target-position match
REPO and POOP differ in all four positions. The P in REPO is in the third position, while the target needs P in the first and fourth positions. The final O is also in the wrong position. Counting letters that appear somewhere in the target therefore gives a misleading impression of proximity. In a word ladder, positions matter: moving a letter to another position is not a permitted operation. Each step replaces one letter while leaving the other three positions unchanged.
The first move replaces the third-position P with D to make REDO. This may look unhelpful because it removes a letter that appears in the target. The accepted-word graph provides the reason: REDO has a checked remaining distance of six, compared with seven for REPO. REDO to REDS then changes the fourth position, leaving five moves. Neither word has a correctly positioned target letter yet. The route is still getting shorter in the graph.
REDS to BEDS changes only the first letter, from R to B. BEDS still shares no letters with POOP in the same positions, but its verified remaining distance is four. Three legal moves have already reduced the required distance from seven to four without adding a single positional match. This puzzle is a concrete reason to explore accepted neighbors rather than refusing a move simply because the displayed word does not look closer to the goal.
The finish: build the middle before changing the ends
From BEDS, change the second letter from E to O to obtain BODS. This is the first word on the displayed route with a target letter in the correct position. BODS to BOOS changes the third letter from D to O. Now the middle pair is OO, matching the middle of POOP. The last two moves can work on the outside positions while preserving that pair.
BOOS to BOOP replaces the final S with P, leaving the initial B as the only mismatch. BOOP to POOP changes that B to P and finishes the ladder. Be careful not to compress BOOS directly into POOP: those words differ at both ends, so they require more than one legal transition. The displayed BOOP step supplies the accepted connection between them.
If you are already on a different branch of the official puzzle, do not jump directly to a familiar word in this chain. Compare your actual current word with the next candidate and verify that exactly one position differs. A valid continuation from BODS does not establish that BODS is a legal next move from whatever word happens to be on your board. You may need to retrace or solve from that different starting point.
Why seven moves are needed in the checked dictionary
The four initially different positions provide a lower bound of four replacements. A lower bound is not a construction: it says that fewer than four changes cannot be enough, but it does not show that accepted intermediate words connect REPO to POOP in four moves. The checked official vocabulary contains 2,398 four-letter words, and the independent breadth-first search reaches REPO at distance seven from POOP.
This route changes the first position twice, R to B and then B to P. It changes the second position once, E to O. The third position changes twice, P to D and then D to O. The fourth changes twice, O to S and then S to P. Adding those changes gives two plus one plus two plus two: seven. Counting the eight word rows as eight moves would incorrectly count the initial REPO position as an action.
The remaining-distance table below is a check on the complete shortest route. Each legal edge reduces the proven distance by one. A shorter suffix from any intermediate word would also yield a shorter route from REPO, contradicting the independent minimum. This argument establishes the lengths of the displayed suffixes; it does not mean that this particular sequence is the only shortest answer. We have not claimed uniqueness or ruled out equally short alternatives.
What to compare when another solver gives a different answer
Our separate browser solver uses the licensed ENABLE 2K four-letter list, not the complete official game list. Differences in available words can change both the candidate neighbors and the minimum distance. If you get a shorter or different route there, check the vocabulary before interpreting that result as a problem with this record. A route is only proven within the graph actually used to calculate it.
A source snapshot is also time-specific. The official game can revise its accepted vocabulary or code after our check. If a word is rejected, record the game date, opening word, preceding word and proposed next word. These details separate a possible dictionary change from a spelling error or a two-position jump. The source notes below retain the observation time and link to the runtime used, so the claim can be investigated rather than silently replaced.
The illustration and video attached to this record follow exactly the same seven transitions as the written explanation. They are original teaching diagrams produced from the verified route. They are not footage of someone completing the official board, and they do not establish a personal score, streak or reward. Use the media to see which position changes, then refer back to the text whenever the pace is too fast.
Watch the route explained
Remaining moves on this checked route
| Word | Moves to POOP |
|---|---|
| REPO | 7 |
| REDO | 6 |
| REDS | 5 |
| BEDS | 4 |
| BODS | 3 |
| BOOS | 2 |
| BOOP | 1 |
| POOP | 0 |
Each suffix of a shortest route must also be shortest: a shorter suffix would give a shorter complete route. These values describe remaining changes, not the moves already used on your board.
What this Poople answer teaches
The first three moves of REPO’s checked route reduce the remaining distance even though none adds a correctly positioned target letter. That is a specific example of why letter matching alone is not a reliable progress measure.
The finish builds the two middle O letters before replacing the final and initial letters. Read each transition as a four-position comparison; BOOS cannot jump directly to POOP because both end letters differ.
How this Poople answer was verified
Source identity and route checks
We checked the public official game implementation on . Its accepted-word distance table and an independent breadth-first search both give a minimum of 7 moves for REPO. This answer was checked against its source and algorithm; we did not replay it through the official game interface.
The source snapshot identifies this as puzzle #451. A later change to the original dictionary could alter which words are accepted. The independent solver uses a different word list, so its shortest distance can differ.
- Official Poople game — checked 2026-11-09.
- Official public game implementation — checked 2026-11-09.
Corrections and verification limits
Corrections are recorded here when a published result changes. No corrections have been recorded for this revision. See our editorial policy or report a rejected step. The verification timestamp is the source observation, not a claim that a human played through the original interface.
More Poople help and recorded puzzles
For a smaller nudge use today's Poople hints. For another starting word use the Poople solver with its independent-dictionary notice, or review how to count one-letter moves.
Browse all verified past Poople answers by game date, starting word or puzzle number.
- October 21, 2026 (#433): VEAL — adjacent published record, not necessarily the previous or next game day.