Both the github fork and clone create copies of a repository, but in different places. The fork creates a copy of the repo on the user's account where they have full read and right permissions on the copied repo. Changes made to a forked repo can be opened in a pull request from the forked repo to the original repo where users with write permissions can approve and merge changes. A github branch is a copy of the code in the main branch of the repo, where work can be done without overwriting or influencing other work that might be underway, and merged at the users' discretion with the main branch of the repository it branched from.