obligato vs motif

obligato and motif both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
obligato	Yes	No	No	No
motif	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, motif is a hypernym of obligato; that is, motif is a word with a broader meaning than obligato:

Other hypernyms of obligato include motive.

obligato (noun)	motif (noun)
a part of the score that must be performed without change or omission	a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration
a persistent but subordinate motif	a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work
	a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music