imagine vs spring to mind

imagine

verb
  • To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind. 

  • to assume 

  • to use one's imagination 

  • To believe in something created by one's own mind. 

  • to conjecture or guess 

  • Used to mock some idea. 

noun
  • A short fanfic or prompt placing a reader insert in a novel scenario with a character or celebrity. 

spring to mind

verb
  • To appear suddenly in one's thoughts, often as an example of something. 

How often have the words imagine and spring to mind occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )