freelance vs ply

freelance

verb
  • To work as a freelance. 

  • To produce or sell services as a freelance. 

adj
  • Of, or relating to a freelance; without employment contract. 

noun
  • A medieval mercenary. 

  • Someone who sells their services to clients without a long-term employment contract. 

ply

verb
  • To work at (something) diligently. 

  • To press upon; to urge persistently. 

  • To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion. 

  • To travel over (a route) regularly. 

  • To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.). 

  • To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously. 

noun
  • In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn" or a move made by one of the players. 

  • A layer of material. 

  • A bent; a direction. 

  • A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up rope or yarn. 

  • A condition, a state. 

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