Ball or bowl?
ball is a noun meaning “A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass”; bowl is a noun meaning “As much as is held by a bowl”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) ball is about 2.6 times as common as bowl.
What is the difference between ball and bowl?
| ball | bowl | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, interjection, suffix | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape To form or wind into a ball | As much as is held by a bowl A dish comprising a mix of different foods served in a bowl, usually named after the base ingredient at the bottom or after a different dish that it simulates The ball rolled by players in the game of lawn bowls |
| Example | a ball of spittle; a fecal ball | You can’t have any more soup – you’ve had three bowls already |
| Forms | balls | bowls |
| Pronunciation | /bɔːl/ /boːl/ /bɔl/ | /bəʊl/ [bɒʊ̯ɫ] /bɒl/ |
| In writing | 110 times per million words | 43 times per million words |
Sources: ball and bowl in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of ball and bowl
ball
- 1
A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass
a ball of spittle; a fecal ball
- 2
To form or wind into a ball
to ball cotton
- 3
An exclamation to inform players on an adjacent playing area that a loose ball from another game has entered their playing area; typically implies that play should be paused until the ball has been…
- 4
A formal dance
We still have pictures from the ball we had in August 2008
- 5
UKRefers to styles of football
Ange + -ball → Angeball
- 6
derogatoryslangforms nouns with the meaning "one who is characterized by"
goof + -ball → goofball
- 7
A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape
a ball of wool; a ball of twine
- 8
To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling
bowl
- 1
As much as is held by a bowl
You can’t have any more soup – you’ve had three bowls already
- 2
The ball rolled by players in the game of lawn bowls
- 3
To roll or throw (a ball) in the correct manner in cricket and similar games and sports
- 4
A dish comprising a mix of different foods served in a bowl, usually named after the base ingredient at the bottom or after a different dish that it simulates
This restaurant offers a number of different bowls
- 5
The action of bowling a ball
- 6
To throw the ball (in cricket and similar games and sports)
- 7
The non-mesh outer-container part of a salad spinner
- 8
To play bowling or a similar game
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, ball or bowl?
ball appears 110 times per million words; bowl 43 times per million words.
ball 110 times per million wordsbowl 43 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).