softener vs chemical

softener and chemical both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
softener	Yes	No	No	No
chemical	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, chemical is a hypernym of softener; that is, chemical is a word with a broader meaning than softener:

softener: a substance added to another to make it less hard
chemical: material produced by or used in a reaction involving changes in atoms or molecules

Other hypernyms of softener include chemical substance.

softener (noun)	chemical (noun)
a substance added to another to make it less hard	material produced by or used in a reaction involving changes in atoms or molecules

softener (adjective)	chemical (adjective)
	relating to or used in chemistry
	of or made from or using substances produced by or used in reactions involving atomic or molecular changes