ale vs porter

ale and porter both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
ale	Yes	No	No	No
porter	Yes	No	Yes	No

As nouns, porter is a hyponym of ale; that is, porter is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than ale:

ale: a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the United States an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume
porter: a very dark sweet ale brewed from roasted unmalted barley

Other hyponyms of ale include Weissbier, wheat beer, white beer, bitter, Burton, pale ale, porter's beer, stout.

ale (noun)	porter (noun)
a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the United States an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume	a very dark sweet ale brewed from roasted unmalted barley
	a person employed to carry luggage and supplies
	a railroad employee who assists passengers (especially on sleeping cars)
	someone who guards an entrance

ale (verb)	porter (verb)
	carry luggage or supplies