They're different products. Adwords ads go on google.com, Adsense ads are put on the display network (blogs, gmail, etc.) Now you can create both through the Adwords tools, but they're still separate offerings.

AdSense is a product for publishers that allows to monetize their traffic. AdWords ia a product to place ads on google search and google display network which includes google properties (youtube, gmail). They are two sides of the same coin, directed on publishers and advertisers respectively.

AdWords is the portal but you can target search or the content network (aka AdSense).

blah the HN app I was using gave me no notification that a comment was posted. I wasn't trying to spam.

You will be forever shunned for this grievous error.

it sounds like they mean using AdWords but targeting the content network, which is effectively the AdSense network. That is different then search engine traffic that you can also buy through AdWords.