rebuttal vs pleading

rebuttal and pleading both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
rebuttal	Yes	No	No	No
pleading	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, pleading is a hypernym of rebuttal; that is, pleading is a word with a broader meaning than rebuttal:

rebuttal: (law) a pleading by the defendant in reply to a plaintiff's surrejoinder
pleading: (law) a statement in legal and logical form stating something on behalf of a party to a legal proceeding

rebuttal (noun)	pleading (noun)
the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary contention or argument	(law) a statement in legal and logical form stating something on behalf of a party to a legal proceeding
(law) a pleading by the defendant in reply to a plaintiff's surrejoinder

rebuttal (adjective)	pleading (adjective)
	begging