after vs later

after

adv
  • Behind; later in time; following. 

prep
  • In pursuit of, seeking. 

  • In allusion to, in imitation of; following or referencing. 

  • In spite of. 

  • Behind. 

  • Next in importance or rank. 

  • Denoting the aim or object; concerning; in relation to. 

  • Subsequently to; following in time; later than. 

  • Used to indicate recent completion of an activity 

  • As a result of. 

conj
  • Signifies that the action of the clause it starts takes place before the action of the other clause. 

adj
  • At or towards the stern of a ship. 

later

adv
  • Afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time). 

  • At some unspecified time in the future. 

intj
  • See you later; goodbye. 

adj
  • At some time in the future. 

  • Coming afterward in distance (following an antecedent distance as embedded within an adverbial phrase) 

  • Coming afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time). 

How often have the words after and later occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )