Lifter rattle
Exhaust leak on manifold
Are two things that can make a noise at a cold start and taper off as the engine warms.
If your bottom end was bad it will knock pretty much all the time and it is an unmistakable sound. Like a pinball in your oil pan.
Think about what I'm saying. A pinball is heavy and envision it being in your oil pan flying around.
I'll tell you a funny story...
We had a mustang brought in the shop one time for a rat a tat tat noise that was semi intermittent.
Some guys thought it was knocking...i said it kind of sounds like it but I don't think so it's just not a heavy enough rattle/knock. The other thing we came to find was we could change the noise if the PCV valve closed off.
Anyways customer wanted it torn down and fixed.
(I knew this had been apart from someone after it left Ford as the cam was much too radical to be anything Ford ever used)
We pulled the engine...
come to the oil pan and and looky looky here what we found.
A 5/32 deep well socket laying inside the oil pan.
Back to your issue...
A true knock will be unmistakable. If it quiets after a few moments after starting a true knock will show it's ugly self again in higher rpm. Somewhere in the rpm/inertia sequence it will reappear you can count on that.
Good luck