What does basketball mean?
Word: Basketball
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Basketball means a team game in which two teams score points by throwing a large ball through a high ring with a net. The ball used in the game is also called a basketball.
How do you spell basketball?
Syllables: bas - ket - ball
Tricky part: The k sound in the middle is a plain k. Children who know cricket and jacket often slip a c in front of it, but basket has no c.
Watch out for: bascketball, basktball
Memory tip: Picture a basket nailed high on a wall and a ball dropping into it: the name of the game is simply those two things side by side.
Basketball in a sentence
Example 1: Our school basketball team practises every evening after classes.
Example 2: Kabir scored two baskets in the last minute of the match.
Example 3: The new basketball court has bright orange lines painted on it.
Fun Fact
The game was invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a teacher in the USA, and the first hoops were peach baskets with their bottoms still in, so someone had to fetch the ball after every goal.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) baskitball
b) basketball
c) basketbal
d) baskettball
Show answer
b) basketball. Basket has an e, not an i, and a single t, and ball keeps both l's.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
lbaksetlab
a) basketball
b) baksetball
c) basketblal
d) baskteball
Show answer
a) basketball. Find the six letters of the container first; the four left over make the thing you throw.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
b_sketb_ll
a) e, a
b) o, a
c) a, e
d) a, a
Show answer
d) a, a. Both halves have the same short a sound, the one you hear in bat.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) atheletics
b) basketball
c) gimnastics
d) badmintan
Show answer
b) basketball. Athletics has no e after the h, badminton ends in ton and gymnastics starts with gy; basketball is written right.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. How many players from each team are on a basketball court at one time?
a) seven
b) six
c) five
d) eleven
Show answer
c) five
2. A basketball player who runs with the ball must keep ____ it.
a) bouncing
b) rolling
c) carrying
d) kicking
Show answer
a) bouncing
