ball
/bɔːl/noun, verb, interjection
ball is spelled B-A-L-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 110 times per million words in written English, the 972nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ball means “A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ball is balls.
How many letters and syllables are in ball?
| Letters | 4: B-A-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 110 times per million words; the 972nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ball?
Ball appears 110 times per million words in written English, the 972nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ball?
- UK /bɔːl/
- British /boːl/
- /bɔl/
Ball has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ball.ogg, En-au-ball.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ball
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: bawl (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with ball?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ball from its last stressed vowel (/ɔl/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ball
- balls plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- balling participle, present
- balled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ball mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
a ball of spittle; a fecal ball
- 2
A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.
a ball of wool; a ball of twine
- 3
A food preparation formed into a spherical shape.
This dish is served with balls of potato.
- 4
In 3-dimensional Euclidean space, the volume bounded by a sphere.
- 5
The set of points in a metric space of any number of dimensions lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point.
- 6
The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point.
- 7
A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.
- 8
obsoleteSuch bullets collectively.
- 9
A formal dance.
We still have pictures from the ball we had in August 2008.
- 10
informalA very enjoyable time.
I had a ball at that concert.
- 11
A competitive event among young African-American and Latin American LGBTQ+ people in which prizes are awarded for drag and similar performances. See ball culture.
verb
- 1
To form or wind into a ball.
to ball cotton
- 2
To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
- 3
USvulgarTo have sexual intercourse (with).
- 4
To gather balls which cling to the feet or skis, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
the horse balls
- 5
slangTo be hip or cool.
- 6
To reject from a fraternity or sorority. (Ellipsis of blackball).
- 7
slangTo play basketball.
fuck it, we ball
- 8
(slang) Used to indicate general perseverance.
interjection
- 1
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 retrieved.
- 2
An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ball in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | balle, boule , ballon , pelote , forniquer, tirer son coup |
| German | Kugel, Ball (naut.) , Ball, Boi , Knäuel , Tanzball |
| Portuguese | bola , novelo , comer , baile , bala , círculo |
| Spanish | bola, esfera, ovillo , pelota, balón , follar con |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ball come from?
From Middle English bal, ball, balle, from an unattested Old English *beall, *bealla (“round object, ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz, *ballô (“ball”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n- (“ball, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, inflate, swell”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).