Meaning & use
digging stick
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablespecialist
A simple tool, often a pointed wooden pole, used to dig up roots or to make holes for planting seeds.
Grammar: Plural is digging sticks: women carried digging sticks to find roots.
Patterns
- use a digging stick
- dig with a digging stick
Early farmers planted seeds by poking holes with a digging stick.
The museum displays a digging stick that is thousands of years old.
She used a digging stick to loosen the soil around the roots.
Word forms
| plural | digging sticks |
|---|
Common combinations
- a wooden digging stick
- He carved a wooden digging stick from a branch.
- sharpened digging stick
- A sharpened digging stick can break hard ground.
- weighted digging stick
- Some groups used a weighted digging stick to dig deeper.
- use a digging stick
- The foragers used a digging stick to gather wild tubers.
- carry a digging stick
- Each woman carried a digging stick on the trip.
Synonyms and how they differ
- spade
- A spade has a flat metal blade for lifting soil, whereas a digging stick is just a pointed pole that loosens it.
- dibber
- A dibber is a small garden tool for making planting holes, while a digging stick is longer and also digs up roots.
- trowel
- A trowel is a small hand tool with a scoop-shaped blade, unlike the plain stick.
Word family
Commonly confused: digging stick or walking stick?
digging stick vs walking stick
A walking stick helps a person walk, while a digging stick is a tool for working soil.
Practice
Before metal tools, many foragers dug up wild roots with a ___.
Choose one answer.
A digging stick is a pointed tool for digging. A walking stick supports a person and does not dig.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “digging stick”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.