stroke vs caress

stroke and caress both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
stroke	Yes	No	Yes	No
caress	Yes	No	Yes	No

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

As verbs, caress is a hyponym of stroke; that is, caress is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than stroke:

Other hyponyms of stroke include fondle, lap, lick.

stroke (noun)	caress (noun)
(sports) the act of swinging or striking at a ball with a club or racket or bat or cue or hand	a gentle affectionate stroking (or something resembling it)
a light touch with the hands
a single complete movement
any one of the repeated movements of the limbs and body used for locomotion in swimming or rowing
a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information
a mark made on a surface by a pen, pencil, or paintbrush
the maximum movement available to a pivoted or reciprocating piece by a cam
a light touch
anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause
the oarsman nearest the stern of the shell who sets the pace for the rest of the crew
(golf) the unit of scoring in golf is the act of hitting the ball with a club
a sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain

stroke (verb)	caress (verb)
treat gingerly or carefully	touch or stroke lightly in a loving or endearing manner
strike a ball with a smooth blow
row at a particular rate
touch lightly and repeatedly, as with brushing motions