on the wrong track vs specious

on the wrong track

prep
  • using the wrong general approach to a particular task or problem; pursuing something in an unpromising way 

specious

adj
  • Employing fallacious but deceptively plausible arguments; deceitful. 

  • Having an attractive appearance intended to generate a favorable response; deceptively attractive. 

  • Seemingly well-reasoned, plausible or true, but actually fallacious. 

How often have the words on the wrong track and specious occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )