In the Oxford Learner's Dictionary, a spade has a squared metal part and a shovel has a metal part with curved edges. This is the picture from Oxford dictionary.
In Cambridge dictionary, a shovel has a squared metal blade (source). This is the image of a shovel from Cambridge dictionary.
Also in Cambridge dictionary, a spade has a curved metal blade (source). This is the image of a spade from Cambridge dictionary.
What is the difference between "a spade" and "a shovel"?
The difference is in the purpose of the tool, as described in the dictionary definitions you have found.
A spade is for digging holes in the ground. It has a strong, flat blade, typically straight-ended (despite Cambridge's picture).
A shovel is for picking up and moving earth, coal, manure etc. The blade usually turns up at the sides so that stuff doesn't fall off so easily.
I found this website - which shows a square-tipped spade even though it says that many people think of them as having a pointed tip!
In common usage, the terms are interchangeable, though at least in my experience ‘shovel’ is preferred over ‘spade’ in American English (I suspect this has to do with ‘spade’ having significantly more alternative definitions, including possible usage as a racial slur and a handful of uses in animal husbandry that are often not listed in dictionaries).
In technical usage, there are differences but they are subtle.
Formally, a shovel is an implement used for moving loose material such as dirt, gravel, concrete, or snow. The blade (the part that actually holds the material) is usually turned up at the back and sides to prevent whatever is being carried from falling off. The leading edge of the blade may be curved or may be straight, depending on what is being carried. The leading edge of the blade may be sharpened (for example, on a snow shovel, where the sharp edge is used for breaking ice), or may not.
A spade, in this context at least, is an implement used for digging holes. The leading edge of the blade of a spade is almost always sharpened, and may be either straight or triangular (but almost never curved, as that is not especially useful for digging holes), and the blade is typically mostly flat, though it will often have a short section at the back that is bent 90 degrees so that you can use your foot to apply extra pressure to cut through roots when digging with it. Spades, by their very nature, are also inherently shovels (you have to move the dirt out of the hole somehow).
It’s also worth noting that these days, most shovels made for gardening are also spades, because there is generally no need to have a distinct tool just for moving dirt. By the similar logic, most folding shovels, camping shovels, and entrenching tools are also designed to serve both roles.
These words are not at all interchangeable, except perhaps when used figuratively.
A spade is strong and sharp at the leading edge to allow digging in compacted soil. It often has a flat part at the back which you can step on to push it into the ground.
A shovel is only suitable for moving material that is already loose. It often is curved up at the sides to stop the loose material from falling off, and maybe slightly curved in the middle too, like a spoon.
You can use a spade when you need a shovel, but it will be a bit harder work because its strength makes it heavier and the material will fall of the sides. You cannot use a shovel when you need a spade, its shape will not allow it to be forced into hard ground.
I.e. with a clear curve so that you can easily scoop up stuff with the blade horizontal, without having to awkwardly keep the handle also horizontal and low to the ground.
It surprises me that that curve is apparently considered to be optional; I can't imagine having to shovel using a shovel with a straight handle.
– Roel Schroeven May 09 '23 at 09:19Since you are talking about the Oxford dictionary, maybe you are interested in British usage. But for completeness, I wanted to add American usage. As an American, I don't think I've ever heard anyone call a tool a "spade" in informal speech. "Shovel" is the more common word and "spade" to me sounds like the fancy word, in contrast to @JamesK's comment that "spade" sounds more plain. This seems to be evidenced by the Google ngrams, in that "shovel" seems to have a bigger advantage in American usage.
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To confuse things further, there is an implement called a "transfer shovel," which looks an awful lot like your description of a spade. I'm going to assume that transfer shovels and spades are distinct if you are well-versed in gardening tools, but the difference isn't obvious to me. Here is a screenshot from Home Depot's webpage:
british-english There's no big difference.
A shovel tends to be used like a big spoon to carry materials. The etymology comes from words meaning "push away". They "shove" things around. So shovels tend to have deep blades, sometimes with curved-up edges (to stop things from falling off). Some shovels have a point. They might be used by builders for moving concrete from a wheelbarrow into a mould.
Spades tend to be used for cutting into the soil to turn it over. They tend to have flatter blades. They are used by gardeners for trenching and aerating the soil. They might have a flat or pointed tip, though more often they are flat. Spades tend to be slightly smaller than shovels.
The distinction between spades and shovels is associated popularly with the proverb "call a spade 'a spade'" (Which means to use plain and direct language instead of fancy, euphemistic or deceptive alternatives). With "shovel" being the "fancy" alternative. (actually this is a mistranslation of the Greek en skaphen skaphen legein)
Ninety-nine percent of the time, you could use either word.
In German, we have the same distinction. We have a "Spaten" and a "Schaufel". Usually, spades are made from thicker material with a bent-over, sturdy back edge to step on. It is used to dig into compacted soil. The blade's shape is not the defining feature; we have a "Gaertnerspaten", i.e. "gardeners' spade" that often has a pointed digging edge like your second example, while the "Spaten" without qualification is usually with a straight digging edge. You might even find "sawblade"-like features on spades, usually on one side, to cut away roots while digging.
Shovels come in all forms and sizes, from relatively small shovels for cement and sand to huge ones for manure and snow.
Note that "shovel" is also used in a more general sense that includes both spades and shovels as used before.
A shovel is for ... wait for it ... shoveling.
A spade is a paddle-like shape.
Note that in the Oxford photo, the label "spade" is, simply, wrong, a typo. They'll fix it in a later edition. The pointy for-earth-breaking tool shown is overwhelmingly, pedagogically, a spade.
(Yes, yes, yes you can sometimes use a knife to shovel, you can sometimes use a laptop to shovel, you can sometimes use a peony to shovel. Whatever. The pointy tool shown is a cartoon, pedagogic, spade.)
The label on the Oxford photo is just a typo, there's absolutely nothing else to see here.
With tens of thousands of companies creating thousands of slightly different types of shovels and spades, there was always going to be some overlap with the purpose of the tool and some variations in the naming, especially when translated into different languages.
Since there are spades almost identical to shovels, the easiest way to remember it is probably to think about what you will use the tool for.
Digging? It's a spade.
Shoveling? It's a shovel.
That being said, people use the tools at hand, so you find people shovel with a spade or dig with a shovel.
Don't worry. Many British people will also be unclear. If they have never had cause to use both implements, they may not know that the other word is not a synonym.
(After they have tried to do work intended for one with the other, they should be getting an inkling ...)
A spade has a flat blade and is for digging or for breaking up compacted soil.
A shovel has a blade turned up at the edges and is for moving loose stuff from a heap into a wheelbarrow or similar. It holds more, especially if the stuff is loose (for example, gravel). It's not usually as sturdy as a spade and is likely to break if you try to dig with it. It's typically also wider.
A spade may have a pointed blade or a flat one.
There are edge cases. There's a trenching spade (or shovel?) with a long narrow sturdy blade turned up at the edges, used for digging a trench just a few inches wide and over a foot deep in which to bury a pipe or cable.
And then you can investigate mattocks, azadas, digging hoes, etc....
In general usage, in my part of the southern US, a spade is long and narrow, and a shovel is wider and shorter.
But that said, I think most people here would consider a spade to be a specific type of shovel. Anything that's basically a cupped blade used to move earth is a shovel, and a spade is a particular type of shovel with specific uses.
