dabble vs play with

dabble

verb
  • To participate or have an interest in an activity in a casual or superficial way. 

  • To feed without diving, by submerging the head and neck underwater to seek food, often also tipping up the tail straight upwards above the water. 

  • To make slightly wet or soiled by spattering or sprinkling a liquid (such as water, mud, or paint) on it; to bedabble. 

  • To cause splashing by moving a body part like a bill or limb in soft mud, water, etc., often playfully; to play in shallow water; to paddle. 

noun
  • A spattering or sprinkling of a liquid. 

  • An act of splashing in soft mud, water, etc. 

  • An act of participation in an activity in a casual or superficial way. 

play with

verb
  • Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: play with. 

  • To trick. 

  • To sexually stimulate a person or a person's erogenous zone. 

  • To fiddle with; make small adjustments to, for example to something mechanical in order to improve its performance. 

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