contend vs refute

contend

verb
  • To believe (something is reasonable) and argue (for it); to advocate. 

  • To be in opposition; to contest; to dispute; to vie; to quarrel; to fight. 

  • To be in debate; to engage in discussion; to dispute; to argue. 

  • To struggle or exert oneself to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend. 

  • contend with: To try to cope with a difficulty or problem. 

refute

verb
  • To deny the truth or correctness of (something). 

  • To prove (something) to be false or incorrect. 

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