The word spade has two main meanings:

1. A tool for digging, with a flat metal blade and a long handle. A spade looks similar to a shovel but has a flatter, sharper blade designed for cutting into soil. Gardeners use spades to turn over dirt, plant trees, or edge flower beds. The spade's straight blade makes cleaner cuts than a shovel's curved scoop. When someone says “call a spade a spade,” they mean speaking plainly and honestly about something, even if the truth is uncomfortable.
2. One of the four suits in a standard deck of playing cards, marked with a black symbol shaped like an upside-down heart with a short stem (♠). The ace of spades is often the most decorative card in the deck. In many card games, spades is the highest-ranking suit. The card game called Spades takes its name from this suit.