credentials vs papers

credentials and papers both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
credentials	Yes	No	No	No
papers	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, papers is a hypernym of credentials; that is, papers is a word with a broader meaning than credentials:

credentials: a document attesting to the truth of certain stated facts
papers: writing that provides information (especially information of an official nature)

Other hypernyms of credentials include document, written document.

credentials (noun)	papers (noun)
a document attesting to the truth of certain stated facts	writing that provides information (especially information of an official nature)