equivalent vs much the same as

equivalent

verb
  • To make equivalent to; to equal. 

adj
  • Having the equal ability to combine. 

  • Similar or identical in value, meaning or effect; virtually equal. 

  • Of a map, equal-area. 

  • Equal in measure but not admitting of superposition; applied to magnitudes. 

  • Of two sets, having a one-to-one correspondence. 

  • Relating to the corresponding elements of an equivalence relation. 

noun
  • An equivalent weight. 

  • Anything that is virtually equal to something else, or has the same value, force, etc. 

much the same as

How often have the words equivalent and much the same as occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )