fill in vs sub

fill in

verb
  • To substitute for somebody or something. 

  • To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information. 

  • To beat up; to physically assault. 

  • To fill; to replace material that is absent or has been removed. 

  • To inform somebody, especially to supply someone missing or missed information. 

sub

verb
  • To substitute for. 

  • To replace (a player) with a substitute. 

  • To lend. 

  • To subscribe. 

  • To take a submissive role. 

  • To coat with a layer of adhering material; to planarize by means of such a coating. 

  • To work as a substitute teacher, especially in primary and secondary education. 

  • To prepare (a slide) with a layer of transparent substance to support and/or fix the sample. 

  • Less commonly, and often as sub on, to bring on (a player) as a substitute. 

  • To subtitle (usually a film or television program). 

  • To perform the work of a subeditor or copy editor; to subedit. 

prep
  • Under. 

noun
  • Subsistence money: part of a worker's wages paid before the work is finished. 

  • A subtitle. 

  • A submarine sandwich: a sandwich made on a long bun. 

  • A subroutine (sometimes one that does not return a value, as distinguished from a function, which does). 

  • A substitute, often in sports or teaching. 

  • A subcontractor. 

  • A subeditor. 

  • A submarine. 

  • A subwoofer. 

  • A subscription: a payment made for membership of a club, etc. 

  • A submissive. 

  • A subscription (or (by extension) a subscriber) to an online channel or feed. 

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