Every badminton shot, explained

There are 12 main types of badminton shots: the clear, drop, smash, jump smash, net shot, net kill, drive, push, lift and three serves (low, flick and high). Overhead shots (clear, drop, smash) are hit from above your head at the back of the court; net shots, kills and lifts are played at the front; drives and pushes live in the mid-court; and every rally starts with a serve. Learn what each shot is for and you can read a rally like a sentence.

Below, every badminton shot name comes with when to use it, a one-line technique cue and its trajectory. Click any shot in the visualizer to watch its path over the net, drawn to scale on a real court.

Badminton shot names at a glance

Shots are easiest to remember by where you hit them from and which way the shuttle is going. Attacking shots travel down; defensive shots travel up and buy time; neutral shots stay flat.

Overhead shots: clear, drop and smash

The three overhead shots share one preparation: turn sideways, racket up, non-racket arm pointing at the shuttle. That sameness is the whole trick. If your clear, drop and smash look identical until the last moment, your opponent has to guess. If your drop has a slower, shorter swing, they will read it every time.

1. Clear

The clear sends the shuttle high and deep to the opponent's back line. The defensive clear goes very high so it falls almost vertically and gives you time to get back to the middle. The attacking clear is flatter and faster: it only needs to get over the opponent's racket, and its job is to catch them leaning forward. A clear that lands short of the back tramlines is the most common beginner leak; it hands your opponent a smash.

2. Drop shot (fast, slow and slice)

A drop shot is hit from the back but falls in the front of the court. The fast drop dives just past the front service line and keeps pressure on; the slow drop floats and falls close to the net, which works against players who hang back. The slice drop is hit with the racket face angled across the shuttle, so a full-looking swing produces a slower shot that also changes direction. Drops are what make your smash dangerous: once an opponent has to respect the front court, your smash has more space to land.

3. Smash

The smash is the fastest shot in badminton and the main way points are won. It is hit steeply downward from a shuttle above and in front of you. Steepness matters as much as speed: a steep, medium-pace smash to the body or sideline beats a flat, fast one that your opponent can block. The fastest test smash recognised by Guinness World Records was 565 km/h; see the fastest smashes ever recorded and how to smash harder for the mechanics.

4. Jump smash

A jump smash is a smash hit in the air. Jumping raises the contact point, which steepens the angle and shortens the time your opponent has to react. It costs energy and recovery time, so it pays off when you are already behind the shuttle with time to load your legs, not when you are scrambling.

Net shots: net shot, spin net, net kill and lift

The front of the court is where rallies are decided quietly. Whoever takes the shuttle highest at the net usually controls what happens next.

5. Net shot and spin net

A net shot is a soft touch from near the net that tumbles over and falls close on the other side. A spin net (or tumbling net shot) brushes the shuttle sideways so it spins over the tape, making it awkward to hit cleanly. A tight net shot forces your opponent to lift, which is exactly what you want before a smash.

6. Net kill

When a net reply rises above the tape, kill it: a short, sharp downward tap. Keep the movement compact and stop the racket after contact. Touching the net with your racket or body during a rally is a fault under the BWF Laws of Badminton, and big swings at the net are how it happens.

7. Lift

The lift is an underarm shot from the front court sent high to the back. It is a defensive shot, but a good lift is not a surrender: high and deep enough, it pushes the attacker to the back line where their smash is flatter and slower by the time it reaches you. A short or flat lift is the shot that loses most points in club badminton.

Mid-court shots: drive and push

8. Drive

A drive is a fast, flat shot hit from around shoulder height that skims the net. It is the language of doubles, where both pairs trade flat shots until someone gets a shuttle to hit down. Use a short backswing, hit in front of your body and keep it at net height; drives that rise give the other side something to attack.

9. Push

The push is a controlled, flatter cousin of the net shot: a firm guide of the shuttle into the mid-court gaps, often between two doubles players or behind a player rushing the net. It keeps the attack without lifting.

Serves: low, flick and high

Every rally starts here, and the service rules are strict. Under the BWF Laws of Badminton, the whole shuttle must be below 1.15 m from the court surface at the moment it is hit, and the serve must land in the diagonally opposite service court. The full list of service faults is on our serve rules page.

10. Low serve

A short serve that skims the tape and lands just past the front service line. It is the default in doubles because it gives the receiver nothing to hit down. Think "push", not "hit".

11. Flick serve

The flick serve starts exactly like a low serve, then a late flick of the wrist and fingers sends it over a receiver who is rushing forward. It only works if your low serve is good enough that they have to rush.

12. High serve

A high, deep serve that drops almost vertically near the back line. It is mainly a singles serve: in doubles the long service line is 0.76 m inside the back line, so a high serve gives a doubles pair an easy smash. See court dimensions for every line.

Badminton shots and techniques: how they fit together

No shot wins on its own. Rallies are built from pairs that look the same and do opposite things:

• Smash and drop from the same preparation: one goes through, one stops short.
• Clear and drop: send them to the back, then the front, then the back again.
• Net shot and lift: a tight net shot forces a lift, the lift sets up your partner's smash.
• Low serve and flick serve: the threat of one makes the other work.

In doubles, the shot mix changes: more drives, pushes and low serves, far fewer high clears. Our doubles strategy guide shows how the shots map onto attack and defence formations.

How to practise every shot

Most shots grow fastest in pairs: one player feeds, the other repeats a single shot 20 to 30 times, then swap. Start with clears to each other (length is the goal), then clear-drop-lift sequences, then net shot battles at the front. Film a session from behind the baseline and watch where your clears really land; it is nearly always shorter than you felt. Unsure about a word? The badminton glossary covers 80+ terms.