Round point shovels thrust their curved blade into soil and packed materials for general digging and excavating applications.

Square point shovels slide their flat-edged blade under piles of dirt, sand, gravel, stone, and debris to scoop up or scrape off material from hard surfaces. They also flatten and pack material to create level surfaces and prepare for paving.

Drain spades plunge their narrow, round-nose blade into soil to dig installation channels for pipe and cable as well as planting holes for shrubs and large plants. They penetrate packed soil and are wider than trenching shovels to ease removal of rocks and dirt when clearing a hole.

Trenching shovels set their narrow, pointed-tip blade at an angle to dig V-shaped troughs for irrigation and drainage.

Garden spades slice their sharp, narrow blade through turf, packed soil, and roots to cut sod or edge landscaping. Their blade is wider than a drain spade blade to make larger cuts.