lower rank vs lowliness

lower rank and lowliness both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
lower rank	Yes	No	No	No
lowliness	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, lowliness is a hypernym of lower rank; that is, lowliness is a word with a broader meaning than lower rank:

lower rank: the state of being inferior
lowliness: a position of inferior status; low in station or rank or fortune or estimation

Other hypernyms of lower rank include low status, lowness.

lower rank (noun)	lowliness (noun)
the state of being inferior	a position of inferior status; low in station or rank or fortune or estimation
	the state of being humble and unimportant