Main Difference
The main difference between Cabin and Cottage is that the Cabin is a they are made of wood, more specifically, logs and Cottage is a that they can be made of a variety of materials, ranging from wood to brick to stone to mud and sod.
Cabin
A small room; an enclosed place. It is also used to address the smaller thing or place.
U.S: A small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built
from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional
builders, but by those who meant to live in it.
Cottage
A cottage is, typically, a small house. It may carry the connotation of being an old or old-fashioned building. In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cosy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location.
The word comes from the architecture of England, where it originally referred to a house with ground floor living space and an upper floor of one or more bedrooms fitting under the eaves. In British English the term now denotes a small dwelling of traditional build, although it can also be applied to modern construction designed to resemble traditional houses (“mock cottages”). Cottages may be detached houses, or terraced, such as those built to house workers in mining villages. The tied accommodation provided to farm workers was usually a cottage, see cottage garden. Peasant farmers were once known as cotters.
The holiday cottage exists in many cultures under different names. In American English, “cottage” is one term for such holiday homes, although they may also be called a “cabin”, “chalet”, or even “camp”. In certain countries (e.g. Scandinavia, Baltics, and Russia) the term “cottage” has local synonyms: In Finnish mökki, in Estonian suvila, in Swedish stuga, in Norwegian hytte (from the German word Hütte), in Slovak chalupa, in Russian дача (dacha, which can refer to a vacation/summer home, often located near a body of water).
There are cottage-style dwellings in American cities that were built primarily for the purpose of housing slaves
In places such as Canada, “cottage” carries no connotations of size (compare with vicarage or hermitage).
Cabin (noun)
A small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional builders, but by those who meant to live in it.
“Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin.”
Cabin (noun)
A chalet or lodge, especially one that can hold large groups of people.
Cabin (noun)
A compartment on land, usually composed of logs.
Cabin (noun)
A private room on a ship.
“the captain’s cabin:”
“Passengers shall remain in their cabins.”
Cabin (noun)
The interior of a boat, enclosed to create a small room, particularly for sleeping.
Cabin (noun)
The passenger area of an airplane.
Cabin (noun)
The section of a passenger plane having the same class of service.
Cabin (noun)
A signal box.
Cabin (noun)
A small room; an enclosed place.
Cabin (noun)
A private office; particularly of a doctor, businessman, lawyer, or other professional.
Cabin (verb)
To place in a cabin.
Cabin (verb)
To live in, or as if in, a cabin; to lodge.
Cottage (noun)
A small house; a cot; a hut.
Cottage (noun)
A seasonal home of any size or stature. A recreational home or a home in a remote location.
“Most cottages in the area were larger and more elaborate than my home.”
Cottage (noun)
A public lavatory
Cottage (verb)
To stay at a seasonal home, to go cottaging.
Cottage (verb)
To have homosexual sex in a public lavatory; to practice cottaging.
Cabin (noun)
a private room or compartment on a ship
“she lay in her cabin on a steamer”
Cabin (noun)
the area for passengers in an aircraft
“animals are not allowed in the cabin of the aircraft”
Cabin (noun)
a small wooden shelter or house in a wild or remote area
“the cabin lay three miles into the reserve”
Cabin (noun)
a cubicle or individual work space within a larger office.
Cabin (verb)
confine within narrow bounds
“once loosed, the idea of equality is not easily cabined”
Cottage (noun)
a small house, typically one in the country
“a holiday cottage”
Cottage (noun)
a simple house forming part of a farm, used by a worker
“farm cottages”
Cottage (noun)
(in the context of casual homosexual encounters) a public toilet.
Cottage (verb)
perform homosexual acts in a public toilet
“I was busted for cottaging”