Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

balls

/bɔːlz/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.52 in modern English

Syllables: balls
IPA: /bɔːlz/

7

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

noun

Colloquial

noun

Masculinity, particularly strength, courage, and force of will; chutzpah; brazenness.

Colloquial; Uncountable

noun

Synonym of bollocks, nonsense.

British usage; Colloquial; Uncountable

noun

A balls-up; a botched job.

British usage

verb

Speaking or acting with bravado to achieve (something)

Transitive verb

verb

To engage in sexual intercourse.

Slang

verb

third-person singular simple present indicative of ball

Example Sentences

"Can you believe he can juggle six balls at once?"
"W. S. Gilbert, HMS Pinafore When the balls whistle free o'er the bright blue sea / We stand to our guns all day."
"After that shot, his balls were really hurting!"
"Near-synonyms: guts; see also Thesaurus:courage"
"He must have a lot of balls to talk to his boss that way."
"He's the guy with the big balls in that group."

Usage

Inflected Forms

ballses (present, singular) ballsing (participle, present) ballsed (participle, past) ballsed (past)

Derived Forms

amazeballs ballsy barse Colemanballs dogballs nutballs

Phrases

Billy Big Balls blue balls bust one's balls bust someone's balls cramp balls drag one's balls across grab life by the balls have someone by the balls

Synonyms

stones testicles testes acorns agates apples apricots bags ballocks balls bangers bannocks

Rhymes With

calls falls walls halls stalls malls installs crawls smalls hauls rawls gauls

Questions

How do you pronounce balls?: The recorded pronunciation is /bɔːlz/.
What does balls mean?: plural of ball

How to pronounce balls

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “balls”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/bɔːlz/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “balls”.
Repeat and practice — Say “balls” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.