upheaval vs commotion

upheaval and commotion both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
upheaval	Yes	No	No	No
commotion	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, commotion is a hypernym of upheaval; that is, commotion is a word with a broader meaning than upheaval:

Other hypernyms of upheaval include disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hoo-hah, hurly burly, kerfuffle, to-do.

upheaval (noun)	commotion (noun)
disturbance usually in protest	the act of making a noisy disturbance
(geology) a rise of land to a higher elevation (as in the process of mountain building)	confused movement
a state of violent disturbance and disorder (as in politics or social conditions generally)	a disorderly outburst or tumult
a violent disturbance