muffle vs tell

muffle

verb
  • To mute or deaden (a sound etc.). 

  • To wrap (a person, face etc.) in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection; often with up. 

  • To wrap up or cover (a source of noise) in order to deaden the sound. 

noun
  • The bare end of the nose between the nostrils, especially in ruminants. 

  • A machine with two pulleys to hoist load by spinning wheels, polyspast, block and tackle. 

  • A kiln or furnace, often electric, with no direct flames (a muffle furnace) 

  • Anything that mutes or deadens sound. 

  • A warm piece of clothing for the hands. 

tell

verb
  • To convey by speech; to say. 

  • To order; to direct, to say to someone. 

  • To instruct or inform. 

  • To narrate. 

  • To reveal. 

  • To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement -- contrasted with show 

  • To count, reckon, or enumerate. 

  • To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated. 

  • To inform someone in authority about a wrongdoing. 

  • To discern, notice, identify or distinguish. 

  • To be revealed. 

  • To use (beads or similar objects) as an aid to prayer. 

noun
  • A private message to an individual in a chat room; a whisper. 

  • A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements. 

  • A reflexive, often habitual behavior, especially one occurring in a context that often features attempts at deception by persons under psychological stress (such as a poker game or police interrogation), that reveals information that the person exhibiting the behavior is attempting to withhold. 

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