clown vs motley fool

clown and motley fool both are nouns.

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

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

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

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

clown (noun)	motley fool (noun)
a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior	a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages
a rude or vulgar fool

clown (verb)	motley fool (verb)
act as or like a clown