athletic field vs playing area

athletic field and playing area both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
athletic field	Yes	No	No	No
playing area	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, athletic field and playing area are synonyms defined as:

athletic field and playing area: a piece of land prepared for playing a game

Other synonyms of athletic field include field, playing field.

athletic field (noun)	playing area (noun)
a piece of land prepared for playing a game	a piece of land prepared for playing a game