matron vs wife

matron and wife both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
matron	Yes	No	No	No
wife	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, wife is a hypernym of matron; that is, wife is a word with a broader meaning than matron:

matron: a married woman (usually middle-aged with children) who is staid and dignified
wife: a married woman; a man's partner in marriage

Other hypernyms of matron include married woman.

matron (noun)	wife (noun)
a married woman (usually middle-aged with children) who is staid and dignified	a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
a woman in charge of nursing in a medical institution
a wardress in a prison