Exactly. One is a package format and/or local package utility, and the other is a frontend to do downloads and updates for that local package utility.

Should be “rpm or dpkg” — assuming that we’re excluding the other options — and then if someone chooses RPM, you can start talking about the frontend:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPM_Package_Manager

Front ends

Several front-ends to RPM ease the process of obtaining and installing RPMs from repositories and help in resolving their dependencies. These include:

• yum used in Fedora Linux, CentOS 5 and above, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and above, Scientific Linux, Yellow Dog Linux and Oracle Linux
• DNF, introduced in Fedora Linux 18 (default since 22), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, AlmaLinux 8, and CentOS Linux 8.
• up2date used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS 3 and 4, and Oracle Linux
• Zypper used in Mer (and thus Sailfish OS), MeeGo,[16] openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise
• urpmi used in Mandriva Linux, ROSA Linux and Mageia
• apt-rpm, a port of Debian’s Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) used in Ark Linux,[17] PCLinuxOS and ALT Linux
• Smart Package Manager, used in Unity Linux, available for many distributions including Fedora Linux.
• rpmquery, a command-line utility available in (for example) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• libzypp, for Sailfish OS

Then for dpkg, you can choose from among aptitude, apt, apt-get/apt-query/etc, graphical frontend options like synaptic that one may want to use in parallel with the TUI-based frontends, etc.