Bowl vs. Ball — What's the Difference?

A bowl is a round dish or container typically used to prepare and serve food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve.

A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players.

A round, deep dish or basin used for food or liquid

A solid or hollow spherical or egg-shaped object that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game

A natural basin.

(in cricket) a delivery of the ball by the bowler to the batsman

A stadium for sporting or musical events

The rounded protuberant part of the foot at the base of the big toe.

A wooden or hard rubber ball, slightly asymmetrical so that it runs on a curved course, used in the game of bowls.

A formal social gathering for dancing

A spell or turn of bowling in cricket.

Squeeze or form (something) into a rounded shape

Roll (a ball or other round object) along the ground

Have sexual intercourse with.

(of a bowler) propel (the ball) with a straight arm towards the batsman, typically in such a way that the ball bounces once

(of a flower) fail to open properly, decaying in the half-open bud.

Move rapidly and smoothly in a specified direction

A spherical object or entity

A hemispherical vessel, wider than it is deep, used for holding food or fluids.

A spherical or almost spherical body

The contents of such a vessel.

Any of various movable and round or oblong objects used in various athletic activities and games.

A drinking goblet.

Such an object moving, thrown, hit, or kicked in a particular manner

A bowl-shaped part, as of a spoon or pipe.

A game, especially baseball or basketball, played with such an object.

A bowl-shaped topographic depression.

A pitched baseball that does not pass through the strike zone and is not swung at by the batter.

A bowl-shaped stadium or outdoor theater.

A solid spherical or pointed projectile, such as one shot from a cannon.

(Football) Any of various postseason games played between specially selected teams, especially at the college level.

Projectiles of this kind considered as a group.

A ball, traditionally made of wood, that is weighted or slightly flattened so as to roll with a bias, used in lawn bowling.

A rounded part or protuberance, especially of the body

A roll or throw of a ball in lawn bowling and other bowling games.

A testicle.

Bowls(used with a sing. verb) See lawn bowling.

Balls Courage, especially when reckless.

A revolving cylinder or drum in a machine.

Balls Great presumptuousness.

To participate in a game of bowling

A formal gathering for social dancing.

To throw or roll a ball in a game of bowling

(Informal) An extremely enjoyable time or experience

To hurl a cricket ball from one end of the pitch toward the batsman at the other, keeping the arm straight throughout the delivery.

To form into a ball.

To move quickly and smoothly, especially by rolling

Vulgar Slang To have sexual intercourse with.

To throw or roll (a ball).

To become formed into a ball.

To make (a specified score) in bowling

Vulgar Slang To have sexual intercourse.

To perform (a specified amount, as a string or game) in bowling

A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.

To move quickly and smoothly by or as if by rolling

A quantity of string, thread, etc., wound into a spherical shape.

To meet or strike with or as if with the force of a rapidly rolling object

(mathematics) Homologue or analogue of a disk in the Euclidean plane.

A roughly hemispherical container used to hold, mix or present food, such as salad, fruit or soup, or other items.

(mathematics) In 3-dimensional Euclidean space, the volume bounded by a sphere.

As much as is held by a bowl.

(mathematics) The set of points in a metric space of any number of dimensions lying within a given distance (the radius) of a given point.

(cooking) A dish comprising a mix of different foods, not all of which need be cooked, served in a bowl.

(mathematics) The set of points in a topological space lying within some open set containing a given point.

A haircut in which straight hair is cut at an even height around the edges, forming a bowl shape.

A solid, spherical nonexplosive missile for a cannon, rifle, gun, etc.

The round hollow part of anything.

A jacketed non-expanding bullet, typically of military origin.

The part of a spoon that holds content, as opposed to the handle.

Such bullets collectively.

A part of a pipe or bong packed with marijuana for smoking

A roundish, protuberant portion of some part of the body.

(typography) A rounded portion of a glyph that encloses empty space, as in the letters d and o.

(anatomy) The front of the bottom of the foot, just behind the toes.

(landforms) A round crater (or similar) in the ground.

The globe; the earthly sphere.

An elliptical-shaped stadium or amphitheater resembling a bowl.

An object that is the focus of many sports and games, in which it may be thrown, caught, kicked, bounced, rolled, chased, retrieved, hit with an instrument, spun, etc., usually roughly spherical but whose size, weight, bounciness, colour, etc. differ according to the game

(American football) A postseason football competition, a bowl game (i.e. Rose Bowl, Super Bowl)

Any sport or game involving a ball; its play, literally or figuratively.

The ball rolled by players in the game of lawn bowls.

A pitch that falls outside of the strike zone.

The action of bowling a ball.

An opportunity to launch the pinball into play.

The game of bowls.

A single delivery by the bowler, six of which make up an over.

(transitive) To roll or throw (a ball) in the correct manner in cricket and similar games and sports.

A pass; a kick of the football towards a teammate.

(intransitive) To throw the ball (in cricket and similar games and sports).

A testicle.

(intransitive) To play bowling or a similar game.

(in the plural) Nonsense.

To roll or carry smoothly on, or as on, wheels.

(in the plural) Courage.

To pelt or strike with anything rolled.

A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.

A concave vessel of various forms (often approximately hemispherical), to hold liquids, etc.

A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.

Specifically, a drinking vessel for wine or other spirituous liquors; hence, convivial drinking.

 One thousand US dollars.

The contents of a full bowl; what a bowl will hold.

A formal dance.

The hollow part of a thing; as, the bowl of a spoon.

(informal) A very enjoyable time.

A ball of wood or other material used for rolling on a level surface in play; a ball of hard wood having one side heavier than the other, so as to give it a bias when rolled.

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.

An ancient game, popular in Great Britain, played with biased balls on a level plat of greensward.

(transitive) To form or wind into a ball.

The game of tenpins or bowling.

(metalworking) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.

To roll, as a bowl or cricket ball.

To have sexual intercourse with.

To roll or carry smoothly on, or as on, wheels; as, we were bowled rapidly along the road.

(ambitransitive) To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.

To pelt or strike with anything rolled.

To be hip or cool.

To play with bowls.

(university slang) To reject from a fraternity or sorority. (blackball)

To roll a ball on a plane, as at cricket, bowls, etc.

To play basketball.

To move rapidly, smoothly, and like a ball; as, the carriage bowled along.

(transitive) To punish by affixing a ball and chain.

A round vessel that is open at the top; used for holding fruit or liquids or for serving food

(Australian rules football) An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.

A concave shape with an open top

Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.

A dish that is round and open at the top for serving foods

A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.

The quantity contained in a bowl

A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.

A large structure for open-air sports or entertainments

Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifle ball; - often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.

A wooden ball (with flattened sides) used in the game of bowls

A flaming, roundish body shot into the air; a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball.

A small round container that is open at the top for holding tobacco

A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; - formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller.

Roll (a ball)

A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot.

Engage in the sport of bowling;

A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus.

The globe or earth.

A pitched ball, not struck at by the batter, which fails to pass over the home plate at a height not greater than the batter's shoulder nor less than his knee (i.e. it is outside the strike zone). If the pitcher pitches four balls before three strikes are called, the batter advances to first base, and the action of pitching four balls is called a walk.

A testicle; usually used in the plural.

Courage; nerve.

A social assembly for the purpose of dancing; - usually applied to an occasion lavish or formal.

A very enjoyable time; as, we had a ball at the wedding.

To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls; as, the horse balls; the snow balls.

To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.

To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton.

Round object that is hit or thrown or kicked in games;

A solid ball shot by a musket;

An object with a spherical shape;

The people assembled at a lavish formal dance;

One of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens;

A spherical object used as a plaything;

United States comedienne best known as the star of a popular television program (1911-1989)

A compact mass;

A lavish formal dance

A more or less rounded anatomical body or mass; ball of the human foot or ball at the base of the thumb;

A ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of 9 players; teams take turns at bat trying to score run;

A pitch that is not in the strike zone;

Form into a ball by winding or rolling;