Volleyball Word Search Printable

Find 16 volleyball words, from Libero to Spike, then press New puzzle or print the sheet with its answer key.

Name Date

Volleyball Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 16 words found

VLLMBMPTSIHOZLY

COURTVTGHNBIDIG

UJVCWPSESIETFBS

RADACETVUHMIKEP

YLASNQYPASSMORI

ACAPTAINNNLENOK

TCYICRNMTNPOMHE

ZEMHSEODEMLUWIM

IENLIFLNNATTRNS

MRWTDEDBNMLVUOT

SERVEROTATIONUP

TTCULEXIVTALTXY

XIRIIESDZFBLOCK

UGMANDBUHEEESIT

QUEREAJNTZGYSZI

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

CourtCOURT
SidelineSIDELINE
AntennaANTENNA
LiberoLIBERO
CaptainCAPTAIN
RefereeREFEREE
RotationROTATION
ServeSERVE
PassPASS
DigDIG
VolleyVOLLEY
TossTOSS
SpikeSPIKE
BlockBLOCK
AceACE
TimeoutTIMEOUT

16 of 24 words from the Favorite Volleyball Words list.

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Answer key: Volleyball Word Search

VLLMBMPTSIHOZLY

COURTVTGHNBIDIG

UJVCWPSESIETFBS

RADACETVUHMIKEP

YLASNQYPASSMORI

ACAPTAINNNLENOK

TCYICRNMTNPOMHE

ZEMHSEODEMLUWIM

IENLIFLNNATTRNS

MRWTDEDBNMLVUOT

SERVEROTATIONUP

TTCULEXIVTALTXY

XIRIIESDZFBLOCK

UGMANDBUHEEESIT

QUEREAJNTZGYSZI

COURT, SIDELINE, ANTENNA, LIBERO, CAPTAIN, REFEREE, ROTATION, SERVE, PASS, DIG, VOLLEY, TOSS, SPIKE, BLOCK, ACE, TIMEOUT

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All 104 words

The Court 21

Antenna A thin striped rod standing up from each edge of the net; the ball must cross between the two.
Attack line The stripe three meters from the net that back players must jump from behind to hit.
Back row The three spots farthest from the net, home of the diggers.
Ball cart A rolling basket that keeps a team's practice supply in one place.
Bench Where substitutes and coaches sit during play.
Boundary The outer edge of the playing surface; touching the stripe still counts as in.
Court The marked rectangle, split in two by the net, where the game is played.
End line The boundary at the back, which a server must stay behind.
Floor Hardwood, or a springy mat laid over it, for the indoor game.
Free zone The open margin around the playing surface, where a ball may still be chased down.
Front row The three spots nearest the net, where the hitters and jumpers stand.
Gymnasium The building with the wooden floor, the bleachers and the echo.
Knee pads Cushioned sleeves that soften a landing on a hard floor.
Padding Soft wrapping around the posts and the referee's stand.
Posts The two uprights that hold the net tight.
Sand What the beach version is played on, two to a side.
Seam The gap between two passers, a favorite target for a serve.
Service area The space behind the back boundary where every serve is hit from.
Sideline One of the two long boundary stripes; a ball that lands on it is in.
Strong side The left front, the easier place to hit from for a right-hander.
Weak side The right front, the harder place to hit from for a right-hander.

Show all 104 words (83 more)

Positions and People 17

Attacker The player who sends the third touch over, hard or soft.
Captain The team's leader on the floor.
Libero A back-row specialist in a different-colored shirt who may not hit above the net.
Line judge An official with a flag who watches whether a ball lands in or out.
Lineup The order of the six starters, handed in before each game.
Middle hitter The tall player at center front who jumps quickly and guards the net.
Opponents The six players you are trying to beat.
Opposite The right-side attacker, who lines up across the rotation from the setter.
Outside hitter The left-side attacker, usually the steadiest scorer, who gets the most sets.
Partner The only teammate you have in the beach game.
Referee The official on the stand at one end of the net who whistles each rally to a start and a stop.
Rotation The clockwise move of all six players, one spot each, when a team wins back the serve.
Setter The playmaker who turns a pass into a hittable ball with the team's second contact.
Specialist A substitute brought in mainly to dig and receive in the back.
Starter One of the six on the floor for the first point of a game.
Statistician The person on the bench who counts every dig, block and ace.
Teammate Anyone wearing the same jersey as you.

Serving and Passing 19

Backpedal To move backward quickly while still facing the play.
Bump A two-armed hit off the joined forearms, the usual way to receive a serve.
Dig A save of a hard-driven spike, usually low and off the forearms.
Float A serve with no spin, so the ball wobbles unpredictably in the air.
Free ball An easy one sent over without a real swing, a gift to the receiving side.
Overhand Describes a hit made above the head, with the fingertips or an open hand.
Pancake A flat hand slapped palm down on the floor so the ball pops up off the back of it.
Pass The first touch, steering the ball up toward the setter.
Pepper A drill with no net: players keep one ball going, pass to set to hit, over and over.
Platform The flat surface made by pressing both forearms together.
Receiving Describes the side that is waiting for the other team's serve.
Serve The hit from behind the end line that starts every rally.
Sky ball A beach serve hit unusually high into the air to confuse the receiver.
Sprawl A low dig with hands on the floor and the body shoved ahead, feet never leaving the ground.
Tomahawk A beach save made above the head with both hands pressed together.
Topspin Forward turning that makes a hard-hit ball drop faster than expected.
Toss The lift of the ball into the air just before a serve.
Underhand Describes the simplest serve: ball held low, struck from below the waist.
Volley To keep the ball in the air without letting it land, which gave the game its name.

Attacks and Blocks 22

Approach The few quick steps a hitter takes before jumping.
Block A wall of raised hands above the net, meant to stop a spike at once.
Defensive Describes play meant to stop the other side from scoring.
Deflection A change of direction after the ball glances off a blocker's hands.
Dump A surprise in which the setter sends the second touch over instead of setting it.
Joust A pushing contest between two rivals over a ball falling right on top of the net.
Offensive Describes play meant to score.
Perimeter A way of defending with the back players spread out near the lines.
Pipe A set for a back-row player to hit from the middle of the court.
Quick A fast, low set struck almost the instant it leaves the setter's hands.
Rainbow A beach shot arched high over the defender to land in the far corner.
Roll shot A soft swing with heavy topspin that loops over the block and falls fast.
Roof A block so firm the ball drops at the hitter's feet; a word that also tops a house.
Shoot A fast, flat set pushed out toward the outside hitter.
Slide A running attack in which the hitter chases the set out toward the right antenna.
Spike A hard one-armed overhead hit, struck at the top of a jump.
Stuff To block a spike straight back down; the same word also means to cram full.
Swing The full arm motion of a hard hit.
Tip A soft push with the fingers, meant to drop just behind the block.
Tool To hit the ball off the block so that it flies out and cannot be saved.
Transition The switch from defending to attacking right after a dig.
Wipe To press the ball against the block and brush it out of bounds.

Scoring and Rules 25

Ace A serve that scores outright because nobody can return it.
Assist Credit for the set that leads straight to a scoring hit.
Carry Another name for letting the ball rest in the hands too long.
Celebrate What six teammates do in a quick circle after a hard-won point.
Consecutive One right after another; no player may hit the ball twice this way.
Double Two touches in a row by the same player, which is not allowed.
Error A mistake that gives the other team the point.
Fault Any break of the rules; it hands the point to the other team.
Handshake What the two teams trade under the net when the contest is over.
Let A serve that clips the net and still drops in; play goes on.
Lift Holding or throwing the ball when it must be cleanly struck.
Margin The gap between the two scores; a set must be won by two.
Match The whole contest, won by taking the most sets.
Mintonette The name the inventor first gave this sport.
Point What a side earns each time the ball lands on the other half or the other side errs.
Rally Everything from the serve until the ball is dead; each one ends in a point.
Scoresheet The paper record of every point, break and change of players.
Shank A wild pass that flies off where no teammate can reach it.
Side out A rally lost by the servers, so the right to serve changes hands.
Skunk Slang for a win so lopsided that the losers never score.
Tiebreaker The deciding set, played when each team has won the same number.
Timeout A short break a team may ask for to regroup.
Touch One contact with the ball; a team gets up to three before it must go over.
Violation A broken rule, such as four touches or touching the net.
Whiff Swinging hard and hitting nothing but air.

How this list was compiled: Volleyball words chosen and defined for this site in five themed lists (the court, positions and people, serving and passing, attacks and blocks, scoring and rules), with a favorites list, an easy list and a hard list. Rules and terms were checked on 2026-10-03 against the English Wikipedia articles Volleyball, Volleyball jargon and Beach volleyball, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball (CC BY-SA 4.0), and spellings against Wiktionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/. Every meaning is in our own words. No league, team, tournament, player or brand is named, and net heights and point totals that change with the level of play are left out. Licence: own work

How it works

This volleyball word search printable opens on favorites such as Serve, Dig, Spike, Libero and Ace. Five more lists cover the court, positions and people, serving and passing, attacks and blocks, and scoring and rules.

Read the full guide

Free printable word search puzzles: volleyball by theme

Pick under Start from a list. The Court has Antenna, Attack line and Free zone. Positions and People has Setter, Libero and Opposite. Serving and Passing has Bump, Pancake and Sky ball, Attacks and Blocks has Roof, Joust and Tool, and Scoring and Rules has Ace, Side out and Let.

Short words for a first season, long ones for varsity

Easy Volleyball Words keeps to short ones such as Dig, Tip, Ace, Bump and Serve. Hard Volleyball Words has Mintonette, Statistician, Consecutive and Tiebreaker.

Two-word terms lose the gap in the grid: Side out reads SIDEOUT, and Free ball reads FREEBALL.
Sky ball, Tomahawk, Rainbow, Sand and Partner are beach words; every other entry fits the indoor game.

Questions and answers

Why are Set and Net missing from the lists?

SET sits inside SETTER, and NET sits inside MINTONETTE and, backwards, inside ANTENNA, so a grid could show either short word in a second place. Type Set or Net at the end of the word list to add it.

What does mintonette mean?

Mintonette is what the inventor of volleyball first called his game, which he meant as an indoor sport less demanding than basketball. The name volleyball came later, from the way players volley the ball. Mintonette is in Hard Volleyball Words.

What is a libero in volleyball?

A libero is a player who specializes in defense. The libero wears a jersey in a contrasting color, replaces a back-row player, and may neither block nor attack a ball that is wholly higher than the net.

What is a pancake in volleyball?

A pancake is a dig made with one hand flat on the floor, palm down, so that the ball bounces off the back of the hand and stays in play. It is in the Serving and Passing list.

All 104 words

The Court 21

Positions and People 17

Serving and Passing 19

Attacks and Blocks 22

Scoring and Rules 25

How it works

Free printable word search puzzles: volleyball by theme

Short words for a first season, long ones for varsity

Questions and answers

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