hoax vs lark

hoax

noun
  • Anything deliberately intended to deceive or trick. 

verb
  • To deceive (someone) by making them believe something that has been maliciously or mischievously fabricated. 

lark

noun
  • A prank. 

  • Any of various similar-appearing birds, but usually ground-living, such as the meadowlark and titlark. 

  • One who wakes early; one who is up with the larks. 

  • A romp, frolic, some fun. 

  • Any of various small, singing passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. 

verb
  • To catch larks (type of bird). 

  • To sport, engage in harmless pranking. 

  • To frolic, engage in carefree adventure. 

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