examine vs sift

examine

verb
  • to observe or inspect carefully or critically 

  • to interrogate 

  • to determine the aptitude, skills or qualifications of someone by subjecting them to an examination 

  • to check the health or condition of something or someone 

sift

verb
  • [+object] (archaic or old-fashioned) To scrutinise (someone or something) carefully so as to find the truth. 

  • To sieve or strain (something). 

  • To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving. 

  • [+ through (object)] To carefully go through a set of objects, or a collection of information, in order to find something. 

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