example vs for instance

example

noun
  • Something that serves to illustrate or explain a rule. 

  • Something that serves as a pattern of behaviour to be imitated (a good example) or not to be imitated (a bad example). 

  • Something that is representative of all such things in a group. 

  • A person punished as a warning to others. 

  • A parallel or closely similar case, especially when serving as a precedent or model. 

  • An instance (as a problem to be solved) serving to illustrate the rule or precept or to act as an exercise in the application of the rule. 

verb
  • To be illustrated or exemplified (by). 

for instance

adv
  • As an example. 

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