bends vs malady

bends and malady both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
bends	Yes	No	No	No
malady	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, malady is a hypernym of bends; that is, malady is a word with a broader meaning than bends:

bends: pain resulting from rapid change in pressure
malady: impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism

Other hypernyms of bends include illness, sickness, unwellness.

bends (noun)	malady (noun)
pain resulting from rapid change in pressure	impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism
	any unwholesome or desperate condition