drinking vs potation

drinking and potation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
drinking	Yes	No	No	No
potation	Yes	No	No	No

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

Other hyponyms of drinking include gulping, guzzling, swilling.

drinking (noun)	potation (noun)
the act of consuming liquids	the act of drinking (especially an alcoholic drink)
the act of drinking alcoholic beverages to excess	a serving of drink (usually alcoholic) drawn from a keg