50+ Sports Vocabulary in English with their Meanings

Sports Vocabulary with Meanings: Children and students love sports and wait eagerly for the bell to ring for the PT period. Playing sports helps to maintain a healthy body and mind. It teaches time management and boosts confidence. Sports are a great way to develop a sense of teamwork and unity. Apart from playing sports, it is also important to know the sports vocabulary.

It might happen that you get confused between two sports vocabulary and wouldn’t know which to use. To avoid such situations, you can learn and understand the vocabulary of different sports like cricket, football, hockey, badminton etc.

Also Read: 50+ Antonyms List for Kids and All Grades School Students

What is Sports Vocabulary?

Put simply, sports vocabulary refers to the words related to a particular sport or game. For example, cricket vocabulary includes words like fielder, all-rounder, boundary, while football vocabulary has words such as goal, penalty and header.

Sports Vocabulary in English with Meanings

Check the list of sports vocabulary in English with meanings for cricket, football, badminton, tennis.

Cricket Vocabulary in English

Vocabulary	Meaning
Bouncer	A short-pitched ball which passes the batsman at chest or head height.
Boundary	Act of a batsman scoring four or six.
Googly	The legspinner's variation that turns into the right-hander and away from the left-hander.
Inswinger	A delivery that moves towards the batter off the pitch.
Century	When batsman scores 100 runs in an inning.
Edge	When the ball touches the edge of the bat.
Leg side	The area of the pitch behind the batsman's legs.
Maiden	An over where no runs that are attributable to the bowler are scored.
No ball	When the bowler oversteps the front crease.
Off side	Side of the pitch which is to batman’s left (left-handed) or right (right-handed).
Pitch	Bounce of the ball.
Run rate	Average number of runs scored per over.
Run up	Strides taken by a bowler before delivery.
Asking rate	Runs required per over for a team to win.
Ball tampering	Illegal action of changing the condition of the ball with artificial means.
Duck	Score of 0.
Economy rate	Average number of runs bowler concedes per over.
Extras	Runs not scored by batsman.

Also Read: Letter Writing Format

Football Vocabulary in English

Vocabulary	Meaning
Goalkeeper	One who defends the goal and stops the other team from scoring goals.
Defender	These players near the goalkeeper.
Midfielder	They play in the middle of the pitch between defenders and forwards.
Forward	Attacking player.
Substitute	They sit on the bench till called to replace a player.
Referee	Makes sure that players follow the rules.
Linesman	It is the responsibility of the linesman to inform the referee when the ball goes out or when a player commits an offense.
Header	Goal that involves the use of the head to guide the direction of the ball.
Foul	Action not permitted in the game.
Free kick	A player fouled by an opponent gets a free kick.
Goal	When the ball crosses the line between the two goal posts it is considered a goal.
Hat trick	When a player scores three goals.
Kick off	The first kick of the game.
Penalty shootout	When the game is tied, this is done to decide the winner. The team which gets the most goals after five shots wins.
Yellow card	Card given as punishment for foul.
Red card	Card asking player to leave the field immediately for playing dangerously.

Tennis Vocabulary in English

Vocabulary	Meaning
ACE	Well served ball that opponent cannot touch with racquet.
ALL	Even score.
Alley	Area between singles and doubles sideline on each side of court.
Backhand	The stroke used to return balls hit to the left side of a right-handed player (or to the right side of a left-handed player).
Doubles	Match with four players.
Serve	Putting ball into play.
Smash	Overhead shot.

Badminton Vocabulary in English

Vocabulary	Meaning
Baseline	Back boundary line at each end of court.
Court	Area of play.
Fault	Violation of rules.
Racquet	Instrument used by players.
Rally	Exchange of shots while shuttle is in play.