theme vs motif

theme and motif both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
theme	Yes	No	Yes	No
motif	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, theme and motif are synonyms defined as:

theme and motif: a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work

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

Other hyponyms of theme include motive, statement, variation.

theme (noun)	motif (noun)
a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work	a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration
the subject matter of a conversation or discussion	a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary or artistic work
an essay (especially one written as an assignment)	a theme that is repeated or elaborated in a piece of music
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition
(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed

theme (verb)	motif (verb)
provide with a particular theme or motive