A sphere is the shape of a basketball, like a three-dimensional circle. A cylinder is a solid figure with two parallel circles of the same size at the top and bottom. The top and bottom of a cylinder ...A sphere is the shape of a basketball, like a three-dimensional circle. A cylinder is a solid figure with two parallel circles of the same size at the top and bottom. The top and bottom of a cylinder are called the bases. The height h of a cylinder is the distance between the two bases. In geometry, a cone is a solid figure with one circular base and a vertex. The height of a cone is the distance between its base and the vertex.