marking vs cairn

marking and cairn both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
marking	Yes	No	No	No
cairn	Yes	No	No	No

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

marking: a distinguishing symbol
cairn: a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path

marking (noun)	cairn (noun)
evaluation of performance by assigning a grade or score	small rough-haired breed of terrier from Scotland
the act of making a visible mark on a surface	a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path
a pattern of marks
a distinguishing symbol