recoil vs ricochet

recoil and ricochet both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
recoil	Yes	No	Yes	No
ricochet	Yes	No	Yes	No

As nouns, ricochet is a hyponym of recoil; that is, ricochet is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than recoil:

Other hyponyms of recoil include bounce, bouncing, resilience, resiliency, carom.

As verbs, ricochet is a hypernym of recoil; that is, ricochet is a word with a broader meaning than recoil:

Other hypernyms of recoil include bounce, bound, rebound, recoil, resile, reverberate, spring, take a hop.

As verbs, recoil and ricochet are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of recoil include bounce, bound, rebound, resile, reverberate, spring, take a hop.

recoil (noun)	ricochet (noun)
a movement back from an impact	a glancing rebound
the backward jerk of a gun when it is fired

recoil (verb)	ricochet (verb)
spring back, as from a forceful thrust	spring back; spring away from an impact
draw back, as with fear or pain
spring back; spring away from an impact
come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect