# ball vs bally

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### ball
*noun · IPA /bɔl/ · frequency rank #961*
A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.

### bally
*adjective · IPA /ˈbæli/ · frequency rank #40,137*
Bloody (used as a mild intensifier).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ball-vs-bally