Meaning & use
cue ball
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Meaning
nouncountablesport
The white ball in pool, snooker and billiards that a player hits with the cue to knock into the other balls.
Grammar: Usually used with the: she aimed the cue ball carefully.
Patterns
- hit the cue ball
- the cue ball hits something
He lined up the shot and sent the cue ball into the corner of the pack.
If the cue ball drops into a pocket, it counts as a foul.
She used backspin to stop the cue ball near the cushion.
Word forms
| plural | cue balls |
|---|
Common combinations
- strike the cue ball
- Strike the cue ball gently for a soft shot.
- pocket the cue ball
- He accidentally pocketed the cue ball and lost a turn.
- cue ball position
- Good cue ball position makes the next shot easier.
- control the cue ball
- Experts control the cue ball with spin.
- scratch the cue ball
- She scratched the cue ball on the break.
Synonyms and how they differ
- white ball
- White ball is the everyday name and is less technical, but it can be ambiguous in other sports such as cricket.
- white
- In snooker commentary white is a short informal way to refer to the cue ball.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: cue ball or queue? cue ball or cue?
cue ball vs queue
Queue means a line of people waiting and sounds the same as cue, but it is not used in cue ball.
cue ball vs cue
A cue is the stick, or a signal to act; the cue ball is the ball struck by the stick.
Practice
In pool, a foul happens if the player knocks the ___ into a pocket.
Choose one answer.
The ball hit with the cue stick is the cue ball. The other options are misspellings or sound-alikes that are not real terms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cue ball”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.