function wordLadder(beginWord, endWord, wordList) {
  debugger;
  var availableLetters = getUniqueLettersFromDictionary(wordList);
	var wordFound = [];
  var wordChanges = 0;
  
	
  for (var i = 0; i < beginWord.length; i += 1) {
    var currArrayWord = beginWord.split('');

    for (var j = 0; j < availableLetters.length; j += 1) {
      currArrayWord[i] = availableLetters[j];
      var newWord = currArrayWord.join('');
      if (newWord === beginWord) continue;
      var index = wordList.indexOf(newWord);
      if (index !== -1) {
        wordChanges++;
        wordFound.push(wordList.splice(index, 1));
      }
      if (newWord === endWord) {
        break;
      }
    }
  }
  return wordChanges;
}

function getUniqueLettersFromDictionary(dictionary) {
  return eraseDuplicatedLetters(dictionary.toString()).replace(',', '');
}

function eraseDuplicatedLetters(word) {
  var result = '';
  for (var i = 0; i < word.length; i += 1) {
    if (result.indexOf(word[i]) < 0) result += word[i];
  }
  return result;
}

document.write(wordLadder('hit', 'cog', ['hot', 'dot', 'lot', 'log', 'cog']));