fumble vs grope

fumble

verb
  • To grope awkwardly in trying to find something 

  • To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly. 

  • To drop a ball or a baton etc. by accident. 

  • To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over. 

  • To blunder uncertainly. 

  • To handle nervously or awkwardly. 

noun
  • A ball etc. that has been dropped by accident. 

  • A dessert similar to a cross between a fool and a crumble. 

grope

verb
  • To search or attempt to find something in the dark, or, as a blind person, by feeling; to move about hesitatingly, as in darkness or obscurity; to feel one's way, as with the hands, when one can not see. 

  • To intentionally and inappropriately touch or rub against another person, in such a manner as to make the contact appear accidental, for the purpose of one's sexual gratification. 

  • To touch (another person) closely and (especially) sexually. 

noun
  • An act of groping, especially sexually. 

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