handicap vs difficulty

difficulty vs handicap

handicap and difficulty both are nouns.

handicap is a verb but difficulty is not a verb.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
handicap	Yes	No	Yes	No
difficulty	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, difficulty is a hypernym of handicap; that is, difficulty is a word with a broader meaning than handicap:

handicap: something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress
difficulty: the quality of being almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring a great effort to achieve a positive result

Other hypernyms of handicap include difficultness.

handicap (noun)	difficulty (noun)
advantage given to a competitor to equalize chances of winning	an effort that is inconvenient
something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress	the quality of being almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring a great effort to achieve a positive result
the condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness

handicap (verb)	difficulty (verb)
injure permanently
put at a disadvantage
attempt to forecast the winner (especially in a horse race) and assign odds for or against a contestant

Difference between handicap and difficulty

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