dampen vs soften

dampen

verb
  • To lessen; to dull; to make less intense (said of emotions and non-physical things). 

  • To become damped or deadened. 

  • To become damp or moist. 

  • To make damp or moist; to make moderately wet. 

soften

verb
  • To make less harsh 

  • To make something soft or softer. 

  • To palatalize. 

  • To become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite. 

  • To become soft or softer 

  • To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up). 

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