kicker vs place-kicker

kicker and place-kicker both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
kicker	Yes	No	No	No
place-kicker	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, place-kicker is a hyponym of kicker; that is, place-kicker is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than kicker:

Other hyponyms of kicker include dropkicker, placekicker, punter.

kicker (noun)	place-kicker (noun)
a player who kicks the football	(football) a kicker who makes a place kick for a goal