decoration vs medal

decoration

noun
  • Any item that adorns, enriches, or beautifies; something added by way of embellishment or ornamentation. 

  • Specifically, any mark of honor to be worn upon the person, as a medal, cross, or ribbon of an order of knighthood, bestowed for services in war, great achievements in literature, art, etc. 

  • The use of exotic sugars as decoys to distract the immune system of a host 

  • The act of adorning, embellishing, or honoring; ornamentation. 

medal

noun
  • A stamped metal disc used as a personal ornament, a charm, or a religious object. 

  • A stamped or cast metal object (usually a disc), particularly one awarded as a prize or reward. 

verb
  • To award a medal to. 

  • To win a medal. 

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