silence vs mum

silence and mum both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
silence	Yes	No	Yes	No
mum	Yes	Yes	No	No

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

Other hyponyms of silence include enigmaticness.

silence (noun)	mum (noun)
the absence of sound	secrecy
a refusal to speak when expected	informal terms for a mother
the trait of keeping things secret	of China
the state of being silent (as when no one is speaking)

silence (adjective)	mum (adjective)
	failing to speak or communicate etc when expected to

silence (verb)	mum (verb)
cause to be quiet or not talk
keep from expression, for example by threats or pressure