herring vs sprat

herring and sprat both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
herring	Yes	No	No	No
sprat	Yes	No	No	No

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

herring: valuable flesh of fatty fish from shallow waters of northern Atlantic or Pacific; usually salted or pickled
sprat: small fatty European fish; usually smoked or canned like sardines

herring (noun)	sprat (noun)
commercially important food fish of northern waters of both Atlantic and Pacific	small herring processed like a sardine
valuable flesh of fatty fish from shallow waters of northern Atlantic or Pacific; usually salted or pickled	small fatty European fish; usually smoked or canned like sardines