difference vs variant

difference and variant both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
difference	Yes	No	No	No
variant	Yes	Yes	No	No

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

Other hyponyms of difference include discrepancy, variance, driftage, flection, flexion, inflection.

difference (noun)	variant (noun)
the quality of being unlike or dissimilar	a variable quantity that is random
a disagreement or argument about something important	something a little different from others of the same type
a variation that deviates from the standard or norm	an event that departs from expectations
the number that remains after subtraction; the number that when added to the subtrahend gives the minuend	(biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups
a significant change

difference (adjective)	variant (adjective)
	differing from a norm or standard
	exhibiting variation and change