clown vs fool

clown and fool both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
clown	Yes	No	Yes	No
fool	Yes	No	Yes	No

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

clown: a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
fool: a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

Other hyponyms of clown include harlequin, jester, motley fool, whiteface, zany.

As nouns, fool is a hypernym of clown; that is, fool is a word with a broader meaning than clown:

Other hypernyms of clown include muggins, sap, saphead, tomfool.

clown (noun)	fool (noun)
a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior	a person who lacks good judgment
a rude or vulgar fool	a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of
	a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

clown (verb)	fool (verb)
act as or like a clown	indulge in horseplay
	fool or hoax
	spend frivolously and unwisely
	make a fool or dupe of