DAILY WORD TRAIL #12 · UTC
Word Ladder for 21 October 2026
KING → PAWN
UTC · Four-letter words · 5 shortest steps (6 words including both endpoints).
Try connecting the two words before opening a hint. This is Word Trail's own dated puzzle, not an official answer for Poople or another third-party game.
Three levels of help
Each hint gives more information about the first move of the shortest answer below. They do not describe three consecutive moves.
Hint 1: letter position
Try changing letter 2.
Hint 2: replacement letter
Change letter 2 from I to A.
Hint 3: next word
Next word: KANG.
Answer and letter changes
Reveal a shortest answer · 5 steps
- KINGStart word
- KANGChange letter 2: I → A
- KANAChange letter 4: G → A
- KAWAChange letter 3: N → W
- PAWAChange letter 1: K → P
- PAWNChange letter 4: A → N
Every adjacent pair changes exactly one letter in its original position. This is one shortest answer, not a list of every possible answer.
What is special about this pair?
- N1 · Minimum one-letter changes
- 5
- N2 · Distinct shortest word sequences
- 10
- N3 · Neighbors of KING
- 19
- N3 · Neighbors of PAWN
- 15
The two endpoints differ in 4 positions. That is a lower bound of 4 changes; the dictionary's actual minimum is 5. This pair needs at least 1 extra change beyond that lower bound, so changing only directly toward the target cannot finish in 4 steps.
N2 counts all shortest sequences through this fixed dictionary, including routes with uncommon or adult words. It does not count longer routes. N3 counts immediate legal next words, not complete routes or a vocabulary difficulty score. These counts describe this word pair; the 16-puzzle schedule repeats, so the same pair and numbers can occur on other dates.
Daily schedule and reviewed route
The immutable v1 schedule assigns KING to PAWN to 2026-10-21, Daily #12, with a published shortest target of 5. The schedule's reviewed witness takes 6 changes, longer than the shortest 5-step answer. It is a valid route, not the minimum. The hints and shortest answer on this page follow the same 5-step route.
See the schedule's reviewed witness · 6 changes
KING → RING → RANG → PANG → PANS → PAWS → PAWN
How to play
Keep all four letter positions. Replace exactly one letter at each step and use an accepted word every time. Do not add, remove or rearrange letters. A longer legal route still solves a puzzle; fewer changes is the goal. Check a handwritten route against the four-letter Solver.
Open today's Daily game. This does not replay this dated puzzle; the home game always uses your device's current UTC date. Its existing progress and history remain in that browser. This read-only page does not read or change game saves.
Dictionary and calculation
Answers use Word Trail's fixed 5,528-word CC0 list and the existing one-letter rule. It is not a children's safe vocabulary. Review words before classroom or family use. The same words can be accepted here and rejected by another game.
The build groups words by a missing-letter pattern, finds minimum distances with breadth-first search, then adds counts along increasing-distance layers using exact integer arithmetic. It counts alternatives without listing every path. See sources and licenses for the pinned CC0 list and MIT dictionary utilities, and Privacy.
Make a playable worksheet with your own word pair or explore connecting words.