early vs gap

early

noun
  • A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day. 

adv
  • At a time before expected; sooner than usual. 

  • Soon; in good time; seasonably. 

adj
  • Near the start or beginning. 

  • Near the start of the day. 

  • Having begun to occur; in its early stages. 

  • At a time in advance of the usual or expected event. 

  • Arriving a time before expected; sooner than on time. 

  • Of a star or class of stars, hotter than the sun. 

gap

noun
  • A hiatus, a pause in something which is otherwise continuous. 

  • A vacancy, deficit, absence, or lack. 

  • The shortfall between the amount the medical insurer will pay to the service provider and the scheduled fee for the item. 

  • An opening in anything made by breaking or parting. 

  • An opening allowing passage or entrance. 

  • An opening that implies a breach or defect. 

  • (usually written as "the gap") The disparity between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities with regard to life expectancy, education, health, etc. 

  • An unsequenced region in a sequence alignment. 

  • The regions between the outfielders. 

  • A vacant space or time. 

  • A mountain or hill pass. 

  • A sheltered area of coast between two cliffs (mostly restricted to place names). 

verb
  • To leave suddenly. 

  • To notch, as a sword or knife. 

  • To check the size of a gap. 

  • To make an opening in; to breach. 

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