folly vs clowning

folly and clowning both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
folly	Yes	No	No	No
clowning	Yes	No	No	No

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

Other hyponyms of folly include meshugaas, mishegaas, mishegoss, buffoonery, frivolity, harlequinade, japery, prank.

folly (noun)	clowning (noun)
foolish or senseless behavior	acting like a clown or buffoon
a stupid mistake	a comic incident or series of incidents
the trait of acting stupidly or rashly
the quality of being rash and foolish