canal vs creek

canal

noun
  • An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation. 

  • A tubular channel within the body. 

  • One of the faint, hazy markings resembling straight lines on early telescopic images of the surface of Mars. 

verb
  • To dig an artificial waterway in or to (a place), especially for drainage 

  • To travel along a canal by boat 

creek

noun
  • A stream of water (often freshwater) smaller than a river and larger than a brook; in Australia, also used of river-sized bodies of water. 

  • Any turn or winding. 

  • A small inlet or bay, often saltwater, narrower and extending farther into the land than a cove; a recess in the shore of the sea, or of a river; the inner part of a port that is used as a dock for small boats. 

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