From Hate To Love

By changing only one letter at a time, in how many steps can you change the word HATE into LOVE?

For example, to change BLUE into TREE, you could use 4 steps:

BLUE → FLUE → FLEE → FREE → TREE

Now change HATE into LOVE.

I can do it in 5 steps:

HATE → MATE → MALE → MOLE → MOVE → LOVE

or in 4 steps:

HATE → HAVE → HIVE → LIVE → LOVE

Can you do it in fewer steps? [ YES!! See below!!]

If only changing hate into love were so easy in real life. *sigh*

UPDATE: There’s a name for this! I didn’t know! They’re called doublets, created by Lewis Carroll, that Alice in Wonderland author. And to change HATE to LOVE in 3 steps, you could do:

HATE → HAVE → LAVE → LOVE

or you could do:

HATE → HAVE → HOVE → LOVE

Off to my dictionary I go, because I don’t know what lave means. Do you?