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Now that the word LEAD was turned into GOLD in only three steps (kudos n_palum) can you turn the word LEAD into IRON changing one letter at a time creating new legit 4 letter words (from Dictionary) in 5 steps or less? Again I am sure there are more than a few answers. And can you do it without using a Proper Noun or name? ( I could not).

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  • 2
    $\begingroup$ PB - PI - IE - FE done! $\endgroup$ – Alex Mar 22 '17 at 19:12
  • $\begingroup$ Four letter words Alex $\endgroup$ – DEEM Mar 22 '17 at 20:50
  • $\begingroup$ Has a correct answer been given? If so, please don't forget to $\color{green}{\checkmark \small\text{Accept}}$ it :) $\endgroup$ – Rubio♦ Apr 10 '17 at 16:49
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If you want to use proper nouns, you could:

LEAD
LEAN
LEON
IEON
IRON

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  • $\begingroup$ IEON if that is indeed there then 4 steps are possible. $\endgroup$ – DEEM Mar 19 '17 at 15:37
  • $\begingroup$ According to the internet, it is a spelling of the name that has shown up a fair number of times throughout history. $\endgroup$ – Ian MacDonald Mar 19 '17 at 16:25
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The best I can do:

LEAD
LEAN
BEAN
BRAN
IRAN
IRON

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  • $\begingroup$ I am waiting for someone to do it either 4 steps or without IRAN. We will see $\endgroup$ – DEEM Mar 18 '17 at 23:24
  • $\begingroup$ @DeepakMahulikar It is impossible in 4 steps. $\endgroup$ – n_plum Mar 19 '17 at 3:44
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Starting with this list of 4 letter words

I've found the following three words that are one away from IRON,

icon
ikon
tron

Unfortunately, the first one only leads back to iron or the 2nd word.

The best I've figured using the 2nd word has 7 steps, and uses some uncommon words.

lead
leat
seat
skat
ikat
ikan
ikon
iron

However, using the 3rd word, I've found the following 5 steps, which appears to be optimal.

lead
tead
trad
trod
tron
iron

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  • $\begingroup$ I was thinking about 'tron' but online it said it's debatable whether tron is a word... $\endgroup$ – boboquack Mar 19 '17 at 1:07
  • $\begingroup$ That's why I included links to the definitions for all of the words. $\endgroup$ – Herb Wolfe Mar 19 '17 at 1:09
  • $\begingroup$ Looks like in your third block, you're changing two letters between the 4th and 5th words. $\endgroup$ – Tanner Swett Mar 19 '17 at 4:52
  • $\begingroup$ @TannerSwett good catch, I changed it to my other list, using less common words. $\endgroup$ – Herb Wolfe Mar 19 '17 at 5:05
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The most optimal solution that I have been able to find is this:

LEAD -> TEAD -> TRAD -> TROD -> TRON -> IRON

5 steps is the minimal you can do due to the disparity in the letters. Lead is not as close to iron as it is to gold. I think words like Tron or Trad are debatable as to whether or not they constitute as a word. In scrabble they would count but in dictionary means it's up in the air.

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  • $\begingroup$ That's one of the possibilities I had as well, but I went with more common words. $\endgroup$ – Herb Wolfe Mar 19 '17 at 3:53
  • $\begingroup$ @HerbWolfe If he wants the optimal solution as his answer, that would be it, there's no lower step possibility, it's just less common as you said $\endgroup$ – n_plum Mar 19 '17 at 4:00

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