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Determine Whether a Word Transformation Exists

Last updated: Mar 29, 2026

Quick Overview

This question evaluates a candidate's ability to model single-character word transformations as a graph/search problem, testing competencies in graph traversal, string manipulation, and state-space connectivity within the Coding & Algorithms domain.

  • medium
  • Snapchat
  • Coding & Algorithms
  • Software Engineer

Determine Whether a Word Transformation Exists

Company: Snapchat

Role: Software Engineer

Category: Coding & Algorithms

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: Technical Screen

Given a `beginWord`, an `endWord`, and a list of valid words `wordList`, determine whether it is possible to transform `beginWord` into `endWord`. Rules: - Each transformation changes exactly one character. - Every transformed word must exist in `wordList`. - All words contain only lowercase English letters and have the same length. - Return `true` if at least one valid transformation sequence exists; otherwise return `false`. Example: - Input: `beginWord = "hit"`, `endWord = "cog"`, `wordList = ["hot", "dot", "dog", "lot", "log", "cog"]` - Output: `true` Because one valid sequence is: `hit -> hot -> dot -> dog -> cog` You only need to return a boolean value, not the length of the shortest transformation.

Quick Answer: This question evaluates a candidate's ability to model single-character word transformations as a graph/search problem, testing competencies in graph traversal, string manipulation, and state-space connectivity within the Coding & Algorithms domain.

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Snapchat
Jan 25, 2026, 12:00 AM
Software Engineer
Technical Screen
Coding & Algorithms
1
0

Given a beginWord, an endWord, and a list of valid words wordList, determine whether it is possible to transform beginWord into endWord.

Rules:

  • Each transformation changes exactly one character.
  • Every transformed word must exist in wordList .
  • All words contain only lowercase English letters and have the same length.
  • Return true if at least one valid transformation sequence exists; otherwise return false .

Example:

  • Input: beginWord = "hit" , endWord = "cog" , wordList = ["hot", "dot", "dog", "lot", "log", "cog"]
  • Output: true

Because one valid sequence is: hit -> hot -> dot -> dog -> cog

You only need to return a boolean value, not the length of the shortest transformation.

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