approbation vs commendation

approbation

noun
  • The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval, sanction, commendation or official recognition. 

commendation

noun
  • The act of commending; praise; favorable representation in words; recommendation. 

  • That which is the ground of approbation or praise. 

  • A message of affection or respect; compliments; greeting. 

  • An award or recognition for performance; a medal. 

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