Pickleball Terms | 20 Key Words for Beginners
Pickleball is great fun for all ages and is very easy to learn—especially if you’ve played other racket sports like tennis, squash, badminton, or table tennis.
Learning a few basic pickleball terms for the rules, court layout, and common shot types will help you get off to a flying start if you’re thinking of giving it a try. The table below lists 20 essential pickleball words and phrases every beginner should know.
When you’re left scratching your head over a piece of pickleball vocabulary, QuillBot’s free AI Chat can explain it to you in an instant.
| A dink | A very common shot used by advanced pickleball players. When playing this shot:
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| The kitchen | A slang term for the non-volley zone—the box at the front of the court on each side of the net. You can only volley the ball (hit it before it bounces on your side of the court) when neither of your feet is touching this area. |
| A side out | When the serving player or doubles team loses their serve and the serve passes to the other side of the net (e.g., “If you lose the rally after your second server has served, it’s a side out”).
It can also refer to a player or team’s complete “serving turn”—also sometimes called a “possession” (e.g., “You always start a new side out by serving from the left”). |
| A paddle | A pickleball “racket” |
| The double bounce rule | Also called “the two bounce rule,” this refers to the rule that:
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| A drop serve | A way of serving where you drop the ball out of your hand, let it bounce, and then hit your serve (rather than hitting your serve directly out of your hand) |
| The one, the two | Alternative terms for the “first server” and the “second server” during a side out in a game of pickleball doubles (e.g., “I’m the one because I’m on the right side of the court”) |
| A drop | A softly hit shot that you hit when you’re standing near the baseline or mid-court into your opponent’s kitchen, allowing you to move forward to your kitchen line |
| A drive | A powerful shot hit with a backswing, a long follow-through, and some top spin |
| A banger | A slang term for a player who likes to hit a lot of drive shots |
| An overhead | A shot that you hit when the ball is high in the air, above the height of your head |
| A speed up | When a player decides to hit a fast drive shot after an exchange of dink shots |
| A pancake volley | A powerful forehand “block” volley hit using a grip similar to holding a frying pan (a western or “pancake” grip). This grip keeps the paddle face open and is very effective when you’re standing near the kitchen line. |
| A chicken wing | A defensive shot where the ball is coming quickly toward your body or head, so you have to awkwardly bend your arm and stick your elbow out |
| A scorpion | A shot where you bend your knees and raise your paddle to about head height with the paddle face pointing forward—often used to block a fast shot near the body and avoid an awkward chicken wing |
| A twoey | A slang term for a shot you hit with two hands on the paddle instead of one (typically a backhand) |
| An Erne | When you jump outside the court so you can volley the ball very close to the net without your feet touching the kitchen (named after the player Erne Perry) |
| An ATP (around the post) | A legal shot you hit after your opponent plays a dink at an extreme cross-court angle and you hit the ball back around the outside of the net post instead of over the net |
| The third shot | The shot in a rally after the serve and the return |
| A paddle tap | When you touch paddles with your opponent at the end of a game to thank them for the game |
Parts of the pickleball court
A pickleball court looks a bit like a tennis court, but it’s much smaller; you can fit about four pickleball courts into the space of one tennis court.
- The box at the front of each end of the court is the kitchen (the non-volley zone).
- The two boxes at the back of each end of the court are the right and left service courts.
- The kitchen line (the non-volley line) separates the service courts from the kitchen.
- The line at the back of each end of the court is called the baseline.
- The outer lines to the left and right are the sidelines.
Terms for pickleball rules
In pickleball, you win a game by scoring an agreed number of points, usually 11.
However, to win a game, you have to win by two. For example, if you’re playing to 11, and the score is 11-10, the game isn’t over—you keep on playing until you or your opponent has a two-point lead (until the score is 12-10, 13-11, or 14-12, etc.).
Pickleball serving terms
Serving means starting a series of shots back and forth over the net (a rally) by hitting the ball out of your non-paddle hand and over the net—or by dropping the ball from your non-paddle hand, letting it bounce, and then hitting it over the net (a drop serve).
You can only win a point if you—or your partner if you’re playing doubles—have the serve (i.e., you or your doubles partner started the rally by serving).
So, if your opponent has served, and they lose the rally (e.g., by making a fault such as hitting the ball into the net or out), you don’t win a point:
- If you’re playing singles, you win the serve.
- If you’re playing doubles, the player on the other team who served loses their serve.
The same player has the serve until they make a fault (when serving or during a rally).
If you’re playing singles and you make a fault (e.g., hit your serve or another shot “out” or into the net), then the serve goes directly to your opponent.
If you’re playing doubles and your team makes a fault, it depends on where you are in the serving sequence (the side out):
- If the rally was started by the first server on your team (i.e., the player who served first after your team won the serve), then the serve doesn’t go to your opponents; it goes to the other player on your team (the second server).
- If the rally was started by the second server, then the serve switches to your opponents (i.e., you “lose the serve”).
How to say the score
In pickleball, it’s good etiquette for the server to say the score just before they serve. The server says their score first and then their opponent’s score.
If you’re playing doubles, you also say “one” after the score if you’re the first server for the current side out and “two” if you’re the second server.
| Score | How you say it | What it means |
| 0-0-2 | Zero, zero, two | It is the very first serve of the whole game, when there is a special serving rule: there is no first server for this side out; the second server starts serving from the right side. |
| 1-0-1 | One, zero, one | The server’s team has one point, and the other team has no points. The first server for the current side out is serving. |
| 1-0-2 | One, zero, two | The server’s team has one point, and the other team has no points. The second server for the current side out is serving. |
| 6-4-1 | Six, four, one | The server’s team has six points, and the other team has four points. The first server for the current side out is serving. |
| 7-4-2 | Seven, four, two | The server’s team has seven points, and the other team has four points. The second server for the current side out is serving. |
When to switch sides in pickleball
If you’re playing singles, knowing whether to stand on the left or right side (of your end of the court) when you are serving or receiving is easy: The server always serves from the right when their score is even and from the left when their score is odd. The receiver stands diagonally opposite to the server.
For example, if you have the serve and 7 points, you know that you should serve from the left side of the court diagonally into the right service court.
The very first serve of a game is always served from the right.
When to switch sides in pickleball doubles
If you’re playing doubles, knowing whether you should be standing on the left or right after your team has just won or lost the serve (i.e., at a side out) is a bit trickier.
The important things to remember are:
- You only switch the side of the court you stand on—for serving or receiving—after your own team wins a point
- You can’t choose where you stand to serve or receive; you have to be on the “correct side” for the scenario
So, in doubles, if your team’s score is even and you started the game standing on the right side of the court, you should be standing on the right side of the court to serve or receive. And it’s the other way around if you started on the left.
The first server for the new side out is the player who was standing on the right at the beginning of the rally that earned their team the side out.
In other words, you stay where you were, and whoever was on the right is the first server for the new side out.
- You are playing a game of doubles.
- Your opponents start the game by serving (so the score is 0-0-2)
- You are standing on the left side at your team’s end of the court (so you are not the player who is going to receive the serve and probably decide to stand near the non-volley line).
- Your opponents win the rally, so they win a point (the score is now 1-0-2)
- You stay on the left side of the court to receive the next serve because you only change sides after your own team has won a point.
Scenario 2
- You are playing a game of doubles.
- Your team starts the game by serving (so the score is 0-0-2)
- You are the server and serve from the right side at your team’s end of the court (into the left service area on the other side of the net).
- Your team wins the rally, so you win a point (the score is now 1-0-2)
- You are still the server and switch to the left side to take your next serve because you change sides after your team has won a point.
Scenario 3
- You are playing a game of doubles.
- Your opponents start the game by serving (so the score is 0-0-2)
- You are standing on the left side at your team’s end of the court (so you are not the player who is going to receive the serve and probably decide to stand near the non-volley line).
- Your team wins the rally but not a point (so there is a side out and the score is now 0-0-1).
- You stay on the left side of the court for the new side out because you only switch sides after your team has won a point (your partner now serves because they are the player who is currently standing on the right side of the court).
Scenario 4
- You are playing a game of doubles.
- Your team has just won a rally on your opponents’ second serve when the score was 1-6-2.
- You know that you shouldn’t switch sides for the new side out because you only change sides after your team has won a point. But you can’t remember which side of the court you were standing on at the start of the rally you have just won, so you work it out from the score: You know that you started the game on the left side of the court, which means that you should be on the left side of the court when your team’s score is even (and on the right side when it is odd). As your team’s score is 6, an even number, you know that you should currently be standing on the left.
- The serve always starts from the right at the beginning of a new side out, so you know that your partner is now the first server for the new side out.
Frequently asked questions about pickleball terms
- What are some funny pickleball terms?
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Pickleball has lots of funny terms:
- The non-volley zone is affectionately known as “the kitchen.”
- A “dink” is a soft shot made by gently tapping the ball over the net so it lands close to your opponent’s kitchen.
- An Erne—named after a well-known player—is a shot where you go outside the court to volley the ball close to the net in order to avoid touching the kitchen.
QuillBot’s free AI Chat can help you understand the funny pickleball terms you come across.
- What are some pickleball slang terms?
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Some common pickleball slang terms include:
- The kitchen: The non-volley zone near the net.
- Poaching: When a doubles player hits a shot their partner could have taken
- A banger: A player who hits mainly powerful drive shots rather than delicate “dink” shots
QuillBot’s free AI Chat can help you understand confusing pickleball slang terms.
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Challenger, T. (2025, October 28). Pickleball Terms | 20 Key Words for Beginners. Quillbot. Retrieved November 1, 2025, from https://quillbot.com/blog/sports-terms/pickleball-terms/
