A records return the numerical address of a name.

CNAME returns a different name for a name. Basically ‘synonym’ so the maintainer only has to change the one master, A record when the IP address changes. Convenient to use CNAME to point www.example.com to example.com, but you can use it just as well to point example.com at my.private.host.xyz You can even chain multiple CNAMEs to make it easier to manage a complex backend structure while presenting a simple address to users.