This corpus-based contrastive analysis examines the Russian classifying nouns, "tip" (type) and "vid" (kind) as well as the Korean classifying noun "yu-hyeong" and "jong-nyu." In the Russian language, the use of the words "tip" and "vid" depends on characteristics and the general contents of the text. In addition, in strictly special scientific texts dealing with the systematization of any objects, these words represent different levels of the classification grid (objects are divided into types and types into kinds), and in non-scientific texts they can become synonyms (different types = different kinds of objects). The Korean scientific text classifying words "yu-hyeong" and "jong-nyu" also represent different classification levels (higher -- "yu-hyeong," lower -- "jong-nyu"). But in non-scientific texts, the word "jong-nyu" is most often used. This suggests the possibility of changes in the meaning of the Russian words "tip" and "vid" depending on the characteristics of the text, which is not seen in the words "yu-hyeong" and "jong-nyu" in the Korean language, as well as a greater permeability of scientific-style vocabulary to non-scientific Russian texts. Understanding how these words are used from a comparative standpoint can be beneficial for translators and aid in developing practical curriculum for Korean students studying Russian as a foreign language.