In short: Poop Ladder is a free Poople unlimited alternative. Each puzzle gives you a random 4-letter word; change one letter per step, every step must be a real word, and reach POOP in as few steps as you can. Pick Easy (par 3–4), Medium (5) or Hard (6–7), use a hint or undo when stuck, and share a spoiler-free result. No sign-up; stats stay in your browser.
How to play
- Read the start word. It sits at the top of the ladder; POOP waits at the bottom. The par next to your streak is the shortest route with common words.
- Change exactly one letter. Type the new word and press Step. Letters can't be added, removed or swapped around — COAL to COOL is fine, COAL to CLAY is not.
- Every step must be a real word. Our list has 3,874 four-letter words. A word can't be used twice in one ladder.
- Watch the hint line. After each step it says how many steps are left on the best route, so you know at once if a move took you further away.
- Stuck? 💡 Hint first tells you which letter to change, then the word to try. ↩ Undo takes back a step; 🏳 Give up shows a full route.
Worked examples
One shortest route for six start words, computed from the same word list the game uses. The number of routes counts every different shortest path.
| Start | One shortest route | Steps | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|
| COAL | COAL → COOL → COOP → POOP | 3 | 2 |
| SOCK | SOCK → LOCK → LOOK → LOOP → POOP | 4 | 1 |
| MILK | MILK → MILL → PILL → POLL → POOL → POOP | 5 | 1 |
| WORD | WORD → WOOD → HOOD → HOOP → POOP | 4 | 2 |
| STEW | STEW → STEP → STOP → SHOP → CHOP → COOP → POOP | 6 | 1 |
| BARK | BARK → BACK → LACK → LOCK → LOOK → LOOP → POOP | 6 | 2 |
Take COAL: change A to O for COOL, L to P for COOP, and C to P for POOP — three steps, par. Notice the pattern: get the double O in the middle first, then fix the ends.
Difficulty levels
| Level | Par | Start words | For example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 3–4 | 170 | BOLD, CONE, GOAL, POLY |
| Medium | 5 | 261 | BALL, CAVE, FELL, HOSE |
| Hard | 6–7 | 666 | AIDE, BEAU, CASA, DEMO |
Recent start words are skipped, so you won't see the same puzzle again soon.
Tips for reaching POOP faster
- Know the last step. Only a few common words are one letter from POOP: COOP, HOOP, LOOP, POOH, POOL, POOR, PROP. Aim for one of them.
- Build the OO first. Words like HOOD, GOOD, LOOK, BOOK and COOL already have the double O; from there it is usually two steps.
- Use the -OOL, -OOK, -OOD families. LOOK → LOOP and HOOD → HOOP are classic finishing moves.
- Vowel first, consonants later. If your word has A, E, I or U in the middle, changing it to O early opens more routes than swapping consonants.
- Watch the squares. A 🟥 means you went further from POOP. Undo costs nothing — only hints and giving up affect your score.
About the word list
We accept 3,874 four-letter words from the public-domain ENABLE list, minus offensive words. Start words and par use a smaller set of 1,437 common words (ENABLE words that also appear in a frequency list of everyday English), so every puzzle is solvable with words most players know. The hard part is spotting the route, not knowing obscure vocabulary.
More word and daily games
Rarest Answer daily · Rarest Answer unlimited · Dartle unlimited · Eraly unlimited · all daily games