Bag vs. Sack: What's the Difference?
Edited by Aimie Carlson || By Janet White || Updated on June 12, 2024
A "Bag" is a flexible container with an opening at the top, while a "Sack" is typically a large, coarse bag made for holding bulk items.
Key Differences
"Bag" and "Sack" are terms used to describe containers that carry items. While both can serve similar purposes, they have nuances that differentiate them. A "Bag" is a general term for any container made of flexible materials, often with handles, designed to hold and carry items. In contrast, the term "Sack" often brings to mind a larger, more rudimentary container. Sacks are typically made of coarser materials, like jute or burlap, and are commonly used to hold bulk items like grain, potatoes, or coal.
Another interesting point is the cultural and regional usage of "Bag" and "Sack". In some parts of the U.S., for instance, the words might be used interchangeably, especially in colloquial contexts. Someone might say they got a "sack" of groceries, even if they received them in a plastic or paper bag. However, a designer handbag would never be referred to as a sack because of the different connotations each word carries.
Lastly, beyond the physical objects, both terms have found their way into idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms. Someone might "bag" an opportunity, meaning they secured it. Conversely, to "get the sack" usually means someone has been dismissed from their job. In these contexts, the words "Bag" and "Sack" take on meanings quite distinct from containers.
Comparison Chart
Basic Definition
A flexible container often with handles
A coarse, large container, typically without handles
Common Materials
Leather, plastic, cloth, paper
Jute, burlap, canvas
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Typical Usage
Everyday carrying, fashion, storage
Holding bulk items, agriculture, storage of large quantities
Cultural Connotations
Versatile, design-oriented, tailored for specific uses
Basic, utility-focused, often for rugged or heavy-duty tasks
Idiomatic Expressions
"Bag an opportunity", "Let the cat out of the bag"
"Get the sack", "Hit the sack"
Bag and Sack Definitions
Bag
A container made of flexible material with an opening at the top.
She pulled a book out of her bag.
Sack
A bag-like structure in an animal or plant.
The bee has a nectar sack.
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Bag
A base in baseball.
The runner was safe at first bag.
Sack
A bag, especially one made of strong material for holding grain or objects in bulk.
Bag
A container of flexible material, such as paper, plastic, or leather, that is used for carrying or storing items.
Sack
The amount that a sack can hold
Sold two sacks of rice.
Bag
A handbag; a purse.
Sack
Also sacque A short loose-fitting garment for women and children.
Bag
A piece of hand luggage, such as a suitcase or satchel.
Sack
(Slang) Dismissal from employment
Finally got the sack after a year of ineptitude.
Bag
A pouchlike or sagging organ or part of the body, such as a cow's udder.
Sack
(Informal) A bed, mattress, or sleeping bag
Hit the sack at 10:00.
Bag
An object that resembles a pouch.
Sack
(Baseball) A base.
Bag
(Nautical) The sagging or bulging part of a sail.
Sack
(Football) A successful attempt at sacking the quarterback.
Bag
The amount that a bag can hold.
Sack
The looting or pillaging of a captured city or town.
Bag
An amount of game taken or legally permitted to be taken.
Sack
Any of various light, dry, strong wines from Spain and the Canary Islands, imported to England in the 1500s and 1600s.
Bag
(Baseball) A base.
Sack
To place into a sack
Sacked the groceries.
Bag
(Slang) An area of interest or skill
Cooking is not my bag.
Sack
(Slang) To discharge from employment
Sacked the workers who were caught embezzling.
Bag
(Slang) A woman considered ugly or unkempt.
Sack
(Football) To tackle (a quarterback attempting to pass the ball) behind the line of scrimmage.
Bag
To put into a bag
Bag groceries.
Sack
To rob (a town, for example) of goods or valuables, especially after capture.
Bag
To cause to bulge like a pouch.
Sack
A bag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and handling of various commodities, such as potatoes, coal, coffee; or, a bag with handles used at a supermarket, a grocery sack; or, a small bag for small items, a satchel.
Bag
To capture or kill as game
Bagged six grouse.
Sack
The amount a sack holds; also, an archaic or historical measure of varying capacity, depending on commodity type and according to local usage; an old English measure of weight, usually of wool, equal to 13 stone (182 pounds), or in other sources, 26 stone (364 pounds).
Bag
To gain; acquire
He bagged a profit from the sale.
Sack
(uncountable) The plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.
The sack of Rome
Bag
To capture or arrest
Was bagged for trespassing.
Sack
(uncountable) Loot or booty obtained by pillage.
Bag
To accomplish or achieve
Bagged a birdie with a long putt.
Sack
(American football) A successful tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. See verb sense4 below.
Bag
To fail to attend purposely; skip
Bagged classes for the day and went to the beach.
Sack
(baseball) One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.
He twisted his ankle sliding into the sack at second.
Bag
To stop doing or considering; abandon
Bagged the idea and started from scratch.
Sack
(informal) Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position, usually as give (someone) the sack or get the sack. See verb sense5 below.
The boss is gonna give her the sack today.
He got the sack for being late all the time.
Bag
To terminate the employment of.
Sack
Bed (either literally or figuratively); usually as hit the sack or in the sack. See also sack out.
Bag
To pack items in a bag.
Sack
(dated) (also sacque) A kind of loose-fitting gown or dress with sleeves which hangs from the shoulders, such as a gown with a Watteau back or sack-back, fashionable in the late 17th to 18th century; or, formerly, a loose-fitting hip-length jacket, cloak or cape.
Bag
To hang loosely
The pants bag at the knees.
Sack
(dated) A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
Bag
To swell out; bulge.
Sack
The scrotum.
He got passed the ball, but it hit him in the sack.
Bag
A soft container made out of cloth, paper, thin plastic, etc. and open at the top, used to hold food, commodities, and other goods.
Sack
(dated) A variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands; also, any strong white wine from southern Europe; sherry.
Bag
A container made of leather, plastic, or other material, usually with a handle or handles, in which you carry personal items, or clothes or other things that you need for travelling. Includes shopping bags, schoolbags, suitcases, and handbags.
Sack
Alternative spelling of sac
Bag
(colloquial) One's preference.
Acid House is not my bag: I prefer the more traditional styles of music.
Sack
To put in a sack or sacks.
Help me sack the groceries.
Bag
(derogatory) An ugly woman.
Sack
To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.
Bag
A fellow gay man.
Sack
To plunder or pillage, especially after capture; to obtain spoils of war from.
The barbarians sacked Rome in 410 CE.
Bag
(baseball) The cloth-covered pillow used for first, second, and third base.
The grounder hit the bag and bounced over the fielder’s head.
Sack
(American football) To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, especially before he is able to throw a pass.
Bag
(baseball) First, second, or third base.
He headed back to the bag.
Sack
To discharge from a job or position; to fire.
He was sacked last September.
Bag
(preceded by "the") A breathalyzer, so named because it formerly had a plastic bag over the end to measure a set amount of breath.
Sack
A name formerly given to various dry Spanish wines.
Bag
(mathematics) A collection of objects, disregarding order, but (unlike a set) in which elements may be repeated.
A bag of three apples could be represented symbolically as {a,a,a}. Or, letting 'r' denote 'red apple' and 'g' denote 'green apple', then a bag of three red apples and two green apples could be denoted as {r,r,r,g,g}.
Sack
A bag for holding and carrying goods of any kind; a receptacle made of some kind of pliable material, as cloth, leather, and the like; a large pouch.
Bag
A sac in animal bodies, containing some fluid or other substance.
The bag of poison in the mouth of some serpents
The bag of a cow
Sack
A measure of varying capacity, according to local usage and the substance. The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels.
Bag
A pouch tied behind a man's head to hold the back-hair of a wig; a bag wig.
Sack
Originally, a loosely hanging garment for women, worn like a cloak about the shoulders, and serving as a decorative appendage to the gown; now, an outer garment with sleeves, worn by women; as, a dressing sack.
Bag
The quantity of game bagged in a hunt.
Sack
A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
Bag
A scrotum.
Sack
See 2d Sac, 2.
Bag
(UK) A unit of measure of cement equal to 94 pounds.
Sack
Bed.
Bag
A dark circle under the eye, caused by lack of sleep, drug addiction etc.
Sack
The pillage or plunder, as of a town or city; the storm and plunder of a town; devastation; ravage.
The town was stormed, and delivered up to sack, - by which phrase is to be understood the perpetration of all those outrages which the ruthless code of war allowed, in that age, on the persons and property of the defenseless inhabitants, without regard to sex or age.
Bag
(slang) A small envelope that contains drugs, especially narcotics.
Sack
To put in a sack; to bag; as, to sack corn.
Bolsters sacked in cloth, blue and crimson.
Bag
£1000, a grand.
Sack
To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.
Bag
(informal) A large number or amount.
Sack
To plunder or pillage, as a town or city; to devastate; to ravage.
The Romans lay under the apprehensions of seeing their city sacked by a barbarous enemy.
Bag
(transitive) To put into a bag.
Sack
A bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases
Bag
(transitive) To take with oneself, to assume into one's score
Sack
An enclosed space;
The trapped miners found a pocket of air
Bag
(informal) To catch or kill, especially when fishing or hunting.
We bagged three deer yesterday.
Sack
The quantity contained in a sack
Bag
To gain possession of something, or to make first claim on something.
Sack
Any of various light dry strong white wine from Spain and Canary Islands (including sherry)
Bag
(slang) To steal.
Sack
A woman's full loose hiplength jacket
Bag
To take a woman away with one as a romantic or sexual interest.
Sack
A hanging bed of canvas or rope netting (usually suspended between two trees); swing easily
Bag
(slang) To arrest.
Sack
A loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist
Bag
(transitive) To furnish or load with a bag.
Sack
The plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter;
The sack of Rome
Bag
To provide with artificial ventilation via a bag valve mask (BVM) resuscitator.
Sack
The termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)
Bag
To fit with a bag to collect urine.
Sack
Plunder (a town) after capture;
The barbarians sacked Rome
Bag
To expose exterior shape or physical behaviour resembling that of a bag
Sack
Terminate the employment of;
The boss fired his secretary today
The company terminated 25% of its workers
Bag
To (cause to) swell or hang down like a full bag.
The skin bags from containing morbid matter.
The brisk wind bagged the sails.
Sack
Make as a net profit;
The company cleared $1 million
Bag
To hang like an empty bag.
His trousers bag at the knees.
Sack
Put in a sack;
The grocer sacked the onions
Bag
To drop away from the correct course.
Sack
A large bag made of a material like burlap.
The farmer filled the sack with potatoes.
Bag
To become pregnant.
Sack
A forceful dismissal from employment.
After the error, he got the sack.
Bag
To forget, ignore, or get rid of.
Sack
A bed or place to sleep.
I'm heading to the sack early tonight.
Bag
To show particular puffy emotion
Sack
To plunder or pillage a place.
The invaders sacked the city.
Bag
To swell with arrogance.
Bag
To laugh uncontrollably.
Bag
To criticise sarcastically.
Bag
A sack or pouch, used for holding anything; as, a bag of meal or of money.
Bag
A sac, or dependent gland, in animal bodies, containing some fluid or other substance; as, the bag of poison in the mouth of some serpents; the bag of a cow.
Bag
A sort of silken purse formerly tied about men's hair behind, by way of ornament.
Bag
The quantity of game bagged.
Bag
A certain quantity of a commodity, such as it is customary to carry to market in a sack; as, a bag of pepper or hops; a bag of coffee.
Bag
To put into a bag; as, to bag hops.
Bag
To seize, capture, or entrap; as, to bag an army; to bag game.
Bag
To furnish or load with a bag or with a well filled bag.
A bee bagged with his honeyed venom.
Bag
To swell or hang down like a full bag; as, the skin bags from containing morbid matter.
Bag
To swell with arrogance.
Bag
To become pregnant.
Bag
A flexible container with a single opening;
He stuffed his laundry into a large bag
Bag
The quantity of game taken in a particular period (usually by one person);
His bag included two deer
Bag
Place that runner must touch before scoring;
He scrambled to get back to the bag
Bag
A bag used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women);
She reached into her bag and found a comb
Bag
The quantity that a bag will hold;
He ate a large bag of popcorn
Bag
A portable rectangular traveling bag for carrying clothes;
He carried his small bag onto the plane with him
Bag
An ugly or ill-tempered woman;
He was romancing the old bag for her money
Bag
Mammary gland of bovids (cows and sheep and goats)
Bag
An activity that you like or at which you are superior;
Chemistry is not my cup of tea
His bag now is learning to play golf
Marriage was scarcely his dish
Bag
Capture or kill, as in hunting;
Bag a few pheasants
Bag
Hang loosely, like an empty bag
Bag
Bulge out; form a bulge outward, or be so full as to appear to bulge
Bag
Take unlawfully
Bag
Put into a bag;
The supermarket clerk bagged the groceries
Bag
A hand-held accessory used for fashion or carrying personal items.
Her new leather bag was a real showstopper.
Bag
An amount of game or fish caught.
He had a good bag after a day of hunting.
Bag
To secure something or achieve.
He bagged the top prize at the competition.
FAQs
Are all sacks considered bags?
Generally, yes. A sack is a type of bag, though not all bags are sacks.
What materials are bags commonly made of?
Bags can be made of leather, cloth, paper, plastic, among others.
Do sacks always lack handles?
Not always, but traditional sacks often don't have handles.
Are bags usually smaller than sacks?
Often, yes. Bags come in various sizes, but sacks are generally larger and hold bulk items.
Can a sack be used as a fashion accessory?
Typically, no. Sacks are more utilitarian, whereas bags can be fashionable.
Is a "sack dress" made from burlap?
No. A "sack dress" refers to a shape, not the material.
Are backpacks considered bags?
Yes, backpacks are a type of bag designed to be worn on the back.
Can sacks be sealed?
Yes, they can be tied or sealed, especially if storing perishables.
Can "bag" be used as a verb?
Yes, like "to bag an opportunity".
What does "hit the sack" mean?
It's an idiom meaning to go to bed.
What items are commonly stored in sacks?
Items like grains, potatoes, or coal are often stored in sacks.
Are bags typically more refined than sacks?
Generally, bags can be more refined and designed for various purposes, while sacks are more basic.
Can "sack" be used as a verb?
Yes, like "the city was sacked by invaders".
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Aimie CarlsonAimie Carlson, holding a master's degree in English literature, is a fervent English language enthusiast. She lends her writing talents to Difference Wiki, a prominent website that specializes in comparisons, offering readers insightful analyses that both captivate and inform.
