pruning vs clipping

pruning and clipping both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
pruning	Yes	No	No	No
clipping	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, clipping is a hypernym of pruning; that is, clipping is a word with a broader meaning than pruning:

Other hypernyms of pruning include trim, trimming.

pruning (noun)	clipping (noun)
the act of trimming a plant	the act of clipping or snipping
something that has been pruned off of a plant	cutting down to the desired size or shape
	an excerpt cut from a newspaper or magazine