laity vs masses

laity and masses both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
laity	Yes	No	No	No
masses	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, masses is a hypernym of laity; that is, masses is a word with a broader meaning than laity:

laity: in Christianity, members of a religious community that do not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergy
masses: the common people generally

Other hypernyms of laity include hoi polloi, mass, multitude, people, the great unwashed.

laity (noun)	masses (noun)
in Christianity, members of a religious community that do not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergy	the common people generally