before vs next

before

adv
  • At an earlier time. 

  • In advance. 

  • At the front end. 

conj
  • Rather or sooner than. 

  • In advance of the time when. 

prep
  • In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items. 

  • In store for, in the future of (someone). 

  • At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking. 

  • Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone). 

  • In the presence of. 

  • In front of in space. 

  • Earlier than (in time). 

next

adv
  • So as to follow in time or sequence something previously mentioned. 

  • In a time, place, rank or sequence closest or following. 

  • On the first subsequent occasion. 

adj
  • Nearest in order, succession, or rank; immediately following (or sometimes preceding) in order. 

  • Nearest in place or position, having nothing similar intervening; adjoining. 

  • Nearest in relationship. (See also next of kin.) 

noun
  • The one that follows after this one. 

det
  • Closest in the future, or closest but one if the closest is very soon; of days, sometimes thought to specifically refer to the instance closest to seven days (one week) in the future. 

  • Denotes the one immediately following the current or most recent one. 

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