Updated October 18, 2026 · Data through puzzle #428 (October 16) · Refreshed monthly
Every day, Poople gives you a start word and asks you to reach POOP one letter at a time, in as few steps as possible. Since August 26, 2026, the 52 daily puzzles from #377 to #428 have been solved 110,762 times, and for each puzzle we know how often a solve matched par, the fewest steps possible. That rate is the ranking on this page. The hardest Poople puzzle so far is #404 WHEN: only 2.7% of its solves matched par. Across all 110,762 solves, 24% matched par.
If word ladders are new to you, what is a word ladder covers the rules in a couple of minutes. This page is refreshed once a month, together with the monthly stats report.
The 10 Hardest Puzzles
| Rank | Puzzle | Date | Par | On par | Shortest routes | Median time | Solves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #404 WHEN | Sep 22, 2026 | 6 | 2.7% | 1 | 1:59 | 2,873 |
| 2 | #426 MICS | Oct 14, 2026 | 6 | 5.8% | 4 | 2:04 | 4,771 |
| 3 | #397 RISK | Sep 15, 2026 | 6 | 6.5% | 1 | 2:01 | 1,069 |
| 4 | #409 RISE | Sep 27, 2026 | 5 | 8.1% | 1 | 2:02 | 2,921 |
| 5 | #418 RENT | Oct 6, 2026 | 6 | 8.1% | 8 | 2:28 | 3,631 |
| 6 | #425 TINY | Oct 13, 2026 | 6 | 8.5% | 11 | 2:29 | 4,204 |
| 7 | #427 LAWN | Oct 15, 2026 | 5 | 9.1% | 1 | 2:08 | 5,276 |
| 8 | #391 HYPE | Sep 9, 2026 | 5 | 10.9% | 2 | 1:06 | 996 |
| 9 | #383 NAPS | Sep 1, 2026 | 5 | 11.3% | 1 | 1:22 | 956 |
| 10 | #423 TIPS | Oct 11, 2026 | 5 | 11.4% | 2 | 2:15 | 3,204 |
RISE and RENT both round to 8.1%. RISE comes first by a hair: 8.08% against 8.12%.
Five of the ten are from October. October’s puzzles have played harder as a group so far: the median October puzzle saw 15.8% of solves on par, against 24.7% for August and September. Daily solve counts also grew over those weeks, so part of that gap may come from newer arrivals. This data cannot separate the two.
What the Hardest Puzzles Have in Common
Fewer routes tend to mean a harder puzzle. A shortest route is any ladder that reaches POOP in exactly par steps. Puzzles with a single route (15 of them) have a median of 16.7% on par; puzzles with 13 or more routes (10 of them) have 28.4%. Across all 52 puzzles the rank correlation is 0.34, a moderate link. Par itself shows almost none, at 0.04: a long ladder takes longer, and so far it has been no harder to match.
The spread around that trend is wide. #389 GIST has one route and still reached 31.4% on par, and every step on it is an everyday word: GIST, LIST, LOST, LOOT, LOOP, POOP. Two other features keep turning up among the hardest puzzles.
A P Word That Goes Nowhere
POOP starts with P, so a move that swaps a P into the first letter looks like progress. In 19 of the 52 puzzles, the start word has a neighbor like that, a word one letter away. In 10 of those 19, the P word is no closer to POOP: PICS from MICS, PAWN from LAWN, PAPS from NAPS, PIPS from TIPS and PINS from TINS, among others. Nine of those ten puzzles played harder than the median puzzle, which sits at 22.1% on par. The exception is #386 RACK, at 36.3%, where the P word PACK did not hold it back. In the other nine, where the P word does move closer, three did.
An Uncommon Word on the Way
WHEN’s only route opens with WHEW and CHEW. Neither move puts a single POOP letter in place, and WHEW is an interjection that few ladders ever need. The word ladder solver shows the route, with letters that already match POOP filled in:
The first letter that matches POOP arrives on the third move. RISK and RISE both have to pass through POME, the word the September report traced through three hard puzzles. #427 LAWN has one route, LAWN, LAIN, LOIN, LOON, LOOP, POOP, and its tempting neighbor PAWN is further from POOP than LAWN itself.
Three Hard Puzzles With Plenty of Routes
Three of the ten hardest puzzles have four or more routes, and each one shows a variation on the same two features.
- #425 TINY, 11 routes, 8.5% on par. Every one of those routes passes through TONK, POME or COOS. Eight go TINK, TONK, two go through TINE and then POME, and one goes TINS, TONS, CONS, COOS. None of TINY’s seven neighbors puts a POOP letter in place.
- #418 RENT, 8 routes, 8.1% on par. Its only neighbor that puts a POOP letter in place is PENT. PENT does keep you on par, but from PENT the only move that stays on par is PEAT, then PLAT. The other six routes begin with BENT, LENT or REST, moves that gain nothing visible, and an O only arrives on the third move.
- #426 MICS, 4 routes, 5.8% on par. The first two moves are forced: MISS, then MOSS. The one neighbor that puts a P in front, PICS, goes nowhere.
In all three, the moves that work either gain nothing visible or depend on an uncommon word, and where a move does look right, it is a dead end or a narrow path. That is the closest thing to a common thread so far. It comes from 52 puzzles, and each monthly refresh will test it against new ones.
Words Worth Knowing
Every ladder ends on one of POOP’s 11 neighbors: BOOP, COOP, GOOP, HOOP, LOOP, PLOP, POMP, POOF, POOL, POOR and PROP. Seven of the 13 hardest puzzles force one particular way in, against 11 of the other 39. Below are the most useful of the words that every shortest route had to pass through in the 13 hardest puzzles, the hardest quarter of the list. Everyday words like ROSE, MISS and LOOP are left out.
| Word | Meaning | Required on |
|---|---|---|
| POME | A fruit with a seed core, like an apple or a pear | #397 RISK, #409 RISE, #391 HYPE |
| POMP | Showy ceremony | The same three puzzles, as the step after POME |
| COOS | Plural of coo, the soft sound a pigeon makes | #383 NAPS, #387 TINS |
| COOP | A pen for chickens | #404 WHEN, #383 NAPS, #387 TINS |
| WHEW | An exclamation of relief | #404 WHEN |
| CHOW | Food, informally | #404 WHEN |
| LAIN | Past participle of lie, as in “had lain down” | #427 LAWN |
| LOIN | A cut of meat from along the back | #427 LAWN |
COOS is also required on #401 FANS. Outside the hardest quarter, two more chains repeat: PEEP, PREP, PROP is required on #385 PERM, #413 TEES and #415 TEEN, and PAIL, PALL, POLL, POOL on #395 PAID and #417 PAIR.
These come from the puzzles played so far. Future puzzles may use them or may not, so treat the list as practice material. Knowing them pays off most when you plan backward from POOP, which is the habit the strategy guide teaches.
The Slowest Puzzles
The ranking above is about matching par. Ranked by median solve time instead, the list looks different.
| Puzzle | Par | Median time | On par | Median invalid entries | Solves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #420 OMEN | 9 | 6:30 | 15.0% | 12 | 1,636 |
| #414 ICED | 8 | 4:47 | 16.7% | 8 | 1,578 |
| #388 ITCH | 10 | 4:24 | 25.7% | 9 | 491 |
| #428 DOJO | 7 | 3:45 | 36.0% | 11 | 3,693 |
| #394 AHEM | 8 | 3:21 | 21.4% | 6 | 562 |
All five have a par of 7 or more. The median solve on #420 OMEN took 6 minutes 30 seconds, more than three times the 1 minute 56 second median across all solves. Even so, #428 DOJO matched par 36.0% of the time, well above the median puzzle, and #388 ITCH, the longest ladder so far at par 10, sits in the middle of the ranking. Long ladders tend to draw more rejected words: OMEN’s solves had a median of 12 invalid entries, against 4 for all solves. OMEN and #414 ICED, the two slowest, are also well below the median on par. ICED has a single route, eight moves long, and it runs through PLED.
The Easiest Puzzles
| Puzzle | Par | On par | Shortest routes | First moves that get closer | Solves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #399 DUTY | 6 | 85.7% | 2 | 1 of 1 | 1,027 |
| #406 TRAY | 5 | 69.4% | 10 | 5 of 9 | 5,396 |
| #393 FUND | 5 | 43.7% | 3 | 1 of 5 | 1,021 |
| #412 GAGE | 6 | 42.7% | 23 | 6 of 14 | 3,746 |
| #392 RACE | 6 | 40.5% | 20 | 5 of 14 | 972 |
The easy end has a pattern of its own: the move that works is either forced or looks right. #399 DUTY has a single neighbor, DULY, and DULY leads only to DULL, so the first two moves make themselves. #406 TRAY is the opposite case: five of its nine neighbors move closer, and the other four cost only a step. #393 FUND has only one first move that gets closer, FOND, and it is also the obvious one, because it puts an O in place. #412 GAGE and #392 RACE have 23 and 20 routes, the most of any par 5 or par 6 puzzle so far.
How This Ranking Works
- Source. Each record is one finished daily puzzle, sent anonymously as six numbers. Every count here is a count of solves, and there is no way to tell how many people they came from. The full method, including what is left out, is in How We Collect These Numbers.
- Ranking. Puzzles are ranked by the share of solves that matched par. Times are medians, never means.
- Range. The list starts at #377. Collection went live about eight hours into #376 on August 25, so #376 is missing its morning solves and is left out.
- Updates. The figures can shift slightly between refreshes, because a few solves of an older puzzle arrive after its day ends.
- Routes and neighbors come from the game’s dictionary, the same one the word ladder solver uses. How par itself is calculated is covered in how we built Poople.
Monthly Reports
- Poople in September 2026: 50,837 Daily Solves by the Numbers
- October 2026 is due in early November, and this page will be refreshed with it.
Every Puzzle Ranked
Show all 52 puzzles, hardest to easiest
| Rank | Puzzle | Date | Par | On par | Median time | Solves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #404 WHEN | Sep 22 | 6 | 2.7% | 1:59 | 2,873 |
| 2 | #426 MICS | Oct 14 | 6 | 5.8% | 2:04 | 4,771 |
| 3 | #397 RISK | Sep 15 | 6 | 6.5% | 2:01 | 1,069 |
| 4 | #409 RISE | Sep 27 | 5 | 8.1% | 2:02 | 2,921 |
| 5 | #418 RENT | Oct 6 | 6 | 8.1% | 2:28 | 3,631 |
| 6 | #425 TINY | Oct 13 | 6 | 8.5% | 2:29 | 4,204 |
| 7 | #427 LAWN | Oct 15 | 5 | 9.1% | 2:08 | 5,276 |
| 8 | #391 HYPE | Sep 9 | 5 | 10.9% | 1:06 | 996 |
| 9 | #383 NAPS | Sep 1 | 5 | 11.3% | 1:22 | 956 |
| 10 | #423 TIPS | Oct 11 | 5 | 11.4% | 2:15 | 3,204 |
| 11 | #387 TINS | Sep 5 | 5 | 11.6% | 1:34 | 638 |
| 12 | #419 CARD | Oct 7 | 5 | 12.3% | 1:55 | 4,319 |
| 13 | #421 CARB | Oct 9 | 5 | 12.9% | 2:09 | 3,814 |
| 14 | #378 GELS | Aug 27 | 5 | 13.2% | 1:34 | 771 |
| 15 | #400 CARE | Sep 18 | 5 | 14.0% | 1:11 | 1,114 |
| 16 | #420 OMEN | Oct 8 | 9 | 15.0% | 6:30 | 1,636 |
| 17 | #396 CARS | Sep 14 | 5 | 15.8% | 1:28 | 989 |
| 18 | #384 NEWT | Sep 2 | 6 | 15.9% | 1:58 | 913 |
| 19 | #414 ICED | Oct 2 | 8 | 16.7% | 4:47 | 1,578 |
| 20 | #401 FANS | Sep 19 | 5 | 16.8% | 1:19 | 600 |
| 21 | #377 TINT | Aug 26 | 6 | 16.9% | 1:29 | 734 |
| 22 | #390 NEWS | Sep 8 | 6 | 19.1% | 1:57 | 834 |
| 23 | #407 FUNK | Sep 25 | 5 | 20.5% | 2:06 | 3,332 |
| 24 | #408 YARD | Sep 26 | 6 | 20.7% | 2:22 | 2,827 |
| 25 | #394 AHEM | Sep 12 | 8 | 21.4% | 3:21 | 562 |
| 26 | #385 PERM | Sep 3 | 5 | 21.5% | 2:04 | 904 |
| 27 | #413 TEES | Oct 1 | 5 | 22.7% | 1:58 | 3,290 |
| 28 | #416 RAFT | Oct 4 | 6 | 23.1% | 2:25 | 2,472 |
| 29 | #380 CAPE | Aug 29 | 5 | 23.7% | 0:59 | 619 |
| 30 | #388 ITCH | Sep 6 | 10 | 25.7% | 4:24 | 491 |
| 31 | #415 TEEN | Oct 3 | 5 | 25.8% | 1:47 | 2,339 |
| 32 | #410 FOES | Sep 28 | 5 | 25.9% | 2:24 | 3,321 |
| 33 | #417 PAIR | Oct 5 | 5 | 26.9% | 1:40 | 3,859 |
| 34 | #382 WATT | Aug 31 | 7 | 26.9% | 2:07 | 896 |
| 35 | #403 PETS | Sep 21 | 5 | 28.6% | 1:27 | 917 |
| 36 | #422 GEMS | Oct 10 | 6 | 30.0% | 2:21 | 3,066 |
| 37 | #424 WAVY | Oct 12 | 7 | 30.0% | 2:10 | 4,560 |
| 38 | #379 MICA | Aug 28 | 7 | 30.9% | 2:04 | 692 |
| 39 | #389 GIST | Sep 7 | 5 | 31.4% | 0:55 | 883 |
| 40 | #395 PAID | Sep 13 | 5 | 31.7% | 1:12 | 685 |
| 41 | #402 AWAY | Sep 20 | 6 | 32.3% | 1:46 | 773 |
| 42 | #405 YANK | Sep 23 | 5 | 34.0% | 1:20 | 4,203 |
| 43 | #398 WHAT | Sep 16 | 5 | 34.5% | 1:06 | 1,245 |
| 44 | #428 DOJO | Oct 16 | 7 | 36.0% | 3:45 | 3,693 |
| 45 | #386 RACK | Sep 4 | 5 | 36.3% | 0:51 | 1,017 |
| 46 | #381 ANON | Aug 30 | 6 | 37.7% | 3:06 | 501 |
| 47 | #411 PAIN | Sep 29 | 5 | 38.9% | 1:36 | 3,612 |
| 48 | #392 RACE | Sep 10 | 6 | 40.5% | 1:17 | 972 |
| 49 | #412 GAGE | Sep 30 | 6 | 42.7% | 1:34 | 3,746 |
| 50 | #393 FUND | Sep 11 | 5 | 43.7% | 0:59 | 1,021 |
| 51 | #406 TRAY | Sep 24 | 5 | 69.4% | 1:06 | 5,396 |
| 52 | #399 DUTY | Sep 17 | 6 | 85.7% | 2:01 | 1,027 |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the hardest Poople puzzle so far?
#404 WHEN, played on September 22, 2026. Only 2.7% of its 2,873 solves matched par. Its only shortest route opens with WHEW, a word that rarely appears in a ladder.
What makes a Poople puzzle hard?
Puzzles with fewer shortest routes tend to be harder, but the link is moderate. The hardest ones usually add one of two traps: a tempting word starting with P that gets no closer to POOP, or a route that runs through an uncommon word such as POME, WHEW or TONK.
What is the easiest Poople puzzle so far?
#399 DUTY, with 85.7% of solves on par. DUTY has only one neighbor, DULY, and DULY’s only other neighbor is DULL, so its first two moves are forced.
How often is this ranking updated?
Once a month, when the monthly stats report comes out. The line at the top of the page shows the date of the last refresh and the last puzzle included.