nopal vs prickly pear

nopal and prickly pear both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
nopal	Yes	No	No	No
prickly pear	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, prickly pear is a hypernym of nopal; that is, prickly pear is a word with a broader meaning than nopal:

nopal: cactus having yellow flowers and purple fruits
prickly pear: cacti having spiny flat joints and oval fruit that is edible in some species; often used as food for stock

Other hypernyms of nopal include prickly pear cactus.

nopal (noun)	prickly pear (noun)
any of several cacti of the genus Nopalea resembling prickly pears	round or pear-shaped spiny fruit of any of various prickly pear cacti
cactus having yellow flowers and purple fruits	cacti having spiny flat joints and oval fruit that is edible in some species; often used as food for stock