Difference between [widget] and "widget"

They are handled differently

[Robsp]

I mean the difference between widget and "widget"

I thought I understood match types by now with phrase being part of a phrase and exact being just that. By this definition "widgets" should be the same as widgets as but in my reporting I see different numbers for both.

Is "widgets" all literal widgets without broadmatching?

[Sanenet]

blue widgets (non phrase specific keyword triggered).
widgets (specific keyword triggered).

Google can only associate the ad with one of the keywords, so in practise "widgets" and widgets won't give you the same stats.

[Robsp]

But then "widgets" and [widgets] should be the same (which is also not the case). I think it is because widgets can also be triggered on widget because of the broad match and "widgets" will not be triggered then.

Does that make sense?