My understanding is that they can be used interchangeably. Years ago the data type for what programmers used for a notes field used to be memo now it’s called long text.

Thank you, Chris.  I believe that you adequately answered my question.

Yep, Chris has it right. In older versions of Access, the data type was called Memo. Microsoft later renamed it Long Text, but it's the same basic type of field used for comments, notes, descriptions, and other potentially lengthy text.

So in normal database conversation, "memo field" and "notes field" are usually interchangeable. "Notes" describes what you store in the field; "Memo" was the old technical name for the field type.