In a word meld, you are given one word to try to change into another, one step at a time. Each step consists of changing one letter of the word into another while still having a true English word. For example, one step would be to change the word "PIE" to "PIT." Another step could change "PIT" to "POT," and so on.

What is the fewest number of steps in which you can change "LONE" to "WOLF"?

L O N E
. . . .
. . . .
W O L F

(I did it in 6 steps)

It seems the only words that differ by one letter from WOLF are GOLF, ROLF, WOLD and WOOF. For a 5-step solution you can't get GOLF, but must use the next-least-obscure word, ROLF.

Gamer provided a 6-step solution using GOLF. Another is:

LONE
HONE
HOLE
HOLD
GOLD
GOLF
WOLF

Posted by Charlie on 2003-06-08 04:56:42