spill the beans vs discover

spill the beans and discover both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
spill the beans	No	No	Yes	No
discover	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, discover is a hypernym of spill the beans; that is, discover is a word with a broader meaning than spill the beans:

spill the beans: divulge confidential information or secrets
discover: make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret

Other hypernyms of spill the beans include break, bring out, disclose, divulge, expose, give away, let on, let out, reveal, uncover, unwrap.

spill the beans (verb)	discover (verb)
divulge confidential information or secrets	get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
	identify as in botany or biology, for example
	make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
	make a discovery, make a new finding
	see for the first time; make a discovery
	discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of by perception with the eyes
	find unexpectedly