incentive vs reward

incentive

noun
  • A bonus or reward, often monetary, to work harder. 

  • Something that motivates, rouses, or encourages. 

adj
  • Inciting; encouraging or moving; rousing to action; stimulating. 

  • Serving to kindle or set on fire. 

reward

noun
  • A prize promised for a certain deed or catch 

  • Something of value given in return for an act. 

  • The result of an action, whether good or bad. 

verb
  • To give a reward to or for. 

  • To recompense. 

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