sailing vs flying

sailing and flying both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
sailing	Yes	No	No	No
flying	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, flying is a hypernym of sailing; that is, flying is a word with a broader meaning than sailing:

Other hypernyms of sailing include flight.

sailing (noun)	flying (noun)
riding in a sailboat	an instance of traveling by air
the work of a sailor
the departure of a vessel from a port
the activity of flying a glider

sailing (adjective)	flying (adjective)
	hurried and brief
	moving swiftly