def equalsWhenOneCharRemoved(x, y):
    if abs(len(x) - len(y)) != 1:
        return False

    return compareEachChars(x, y, False)

def compareEachChars(a, b, has_removed):
    if not a or not b:
        return True

    if a[0] != b[0]:
        if has_removed:
            return False
        elif len(a) > len(b):
            return compareEachChars(a[1:], b, True)
        else:
            return compareEachChars(a, b[1:], True)
    else:
        return compareEachChars(a[1:],b[1:], has_removed)