make headway vs gain ground

make headway and gain ground both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
make headway	No	No	Yes	No
gain ground	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, make headway and gain ground are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of make headway include advance, gain, get ahead, pull ahead, win.

make headway (verb)	gain ground (verb)
obtain advantages, such as points, etc.	obtain advantages, such as points, etc.