Poople #435 Answer: GENE to POOP in 6 Moves

Poople #435 at a glance

What makes this puzzle distinctive

GENE has two one-letter neighbours in this checked list, but only GONE keeps the six-move minimum. Every one of the 11 shortest routes therefore begins GENE → GONE.

From GONE, six next words preserve a shortest finish: BONE, CONE, DONE, GORE, HONE and TONE. The selected route takes CONE → COME → COMP → COOP, while other routes finish through BOOP, POMP or HOOP.

Step-by-step shortest route

Shortest routes

All 11 shortest routes are shown below.

1. GENE → GONE → BONE → BONK → BOOK → BOOP → POOP
2. GENE → GONE → CONE → COME → COMP → COOP → POOP Selected reference route
3. GENE → GONE → CONE → COME → COMP → POMP → POOP
4. GENE → GONE → CONE → COME → POME → POMP → POOP
5. GENE → GONE → CONE → CONK → COOK → COOP → POOP
6. GENE → GONE → CONE → CONS → COOS → COOP → POOP
7. GENE → GONE → DONE → DOME → POME → POMP → POOP
8. GENE → GONE → GORE → PORE → POME → POMP → POOP
9. GENE → GONE → HONE → HOME → POME → POMP → POOP
10. GENE → GONE → HONE → HONK → HOOK → HOOP → POOP
11. GENE → GONE → TONE → TOME → POME → POMP → POOP

First-move choices

One-letter neighbours of GENE in this checked list: GENS (adds at least one move) · GONE (keeps par).

A first move keeps the 6-move minimum only when its remaining distance is 5.

Choices along the selected route

Each listed next word keeps a shortest finish from that point. These are the branch points encountered on the selected reference route.

How this answer was checked

This route was saved during its daily verification run. The 2398-word list was checked on October 23, 2026. We verified every displayed transition, the shortest length and the route count against that list.