cladding vs protective covering

cladding and protective covering both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
cladding	Yes	No	No	No
protective covering	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, protective covering is a hypernym of cladding; that is, protective covering is a word with a broader meaning than cladding:

cladding: a protective covering that protects the outside of a building
protective covering: a covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury

Other hypernyms of cladding include protection, protective cover.

cladding (noun)	protective covering (noun)
a protective covering that protects the outside of a building	the tough natural covering of some organisms
	a covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury