Word Golf
From OUNCE to POUND


Lewis Carroll's game of "Word Golf" or "Doublets" or "Word Ladders" requires you to build a chain of words between two given words, changing only a single letter at a time. I had heard that going from OUNCE to POUND was impossible, but I persisted. The solution I found relies heavily on two Scottish dialect words, "DUNCH" (a nudge with the elbow), and "CAULD" (a spelling of "cold"). The other words in the chain are more legitimate.

      ounce
      |
      dunce
          |
      dunch
      |
      bunch
          |
      bunco
         |
      bunko
          |
      bunks
        |
      bulks
       |
      balks
      |
      calks
         |
      calls
        |
      cauls
          |
      cauld
       |
      could
      |
      would
         |
      wound
      |
      pound
    

Last modified on 09 September 2005.