What does netball mean?
Word: Netball
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Netball means a team game in which players score by throwing a ball through a high ring with a net hanging from it.
How do you spell netball?
Syllables: net - ball
Tricky part: The second part ends in a double l. Children who write quickly often leave one l off.
Watch out for: netbal, netbawl
Memory tip: Ball has two l's on its own, and it keeps both of them when net joins the front.
Netball in a sentence
Example 1: Our school netball team practises every Thursday after lunch.
Example 2: In netball you cannot run while you are holding the ball.
Example 3: Anaya scored the winning goal in the inter-house netball match.
Fun Fact
Netball grew out of early basketball. It was taken up in England in the 1890s, and the rules slowly changed into a game of its own.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) netball
b) nettball
c) netboll
d) nedball
Show answer
a) netball. Net and ball join without any change to either word.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) hocky
b) badmintan
c) atheletics
d) netball
Show answer
d) netball. Netball is right; the other sports should read badminton, hockey and athletics.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
lablent
a) netball
b) tenball
c) nebtall
d) nteball
Show answer
a) netball. Work backwards from the double l at the end; the letters in front of it come together quickly.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The referee blew the whistel and the netball match began.
a) match
b) whistel
c) referee
d) netball
Show answer
b) whistel. Whistle has a silent t and ends in le, like castle.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. How many players does a netball team have on the court?
a) five
b) nine
c) eleven
d) seven
Show answer
d) seven
2. In netball, how do players move the ball around the court?
a) by kicking it along the ground
b) by hitting it with a bat
c) by rolling it with their feet
d) by passing it with their hands
Show answer
d) by passing it with their hands
