kicking vs punting

kicking and punting both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
kicking	Yes	No	No	No
punting	Yes	No	No	No

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

kicking: the act of delivering a blow with the foot
punting: (football) a kick in which the football is dropped from the hands and kicked before it touches the ground

Other hyponyms of kicking include goal-kick, goal-kick, punt, place-kicking, place kick, dropkick.

kicking (noun)	punting (noun)
the act of delivering a blow with the foot	(football) a kick in which the football is dropped from the hands and kicked before it touches the ground
a rhythmic thrusting movement of the legs as in swimming or calisthenics