fail vs pay

fail

verb
  • To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent. 

  • Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.) 

  • To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits. 

  • To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour. 

  • To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert; to disappoint one's expectations. 

  • To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence. 

  • To neglect. 

  • To be unsuccessful. 

  • Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly. 

noun
  • A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action). 

  • A failure (condition of being unsuccessful). 

  • A failing grade in an academic examination. 

  • Poor quality; substandard workmanship. 

  • A failure (something incapable of success). 

  • A piece of turf cut from grassland. 

adj
  • Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way. 

pay

verb
  • To discharge an obligation or debt. 

  • To cover (the bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc.) with tar or pitch, or a waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear. 

  • To be profitable or worth the effort. 

  • To admit that a joke, punchline, etc., was funny. 

  • To suffer consequences. 

  • To discharge, as a debt or other obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required. 

  • To be profitable for. 

  • To give (something else than money). 

  • To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services. 

adj
  • Operable or accessible on deposit of coins. 

  • Pertaining to or requiring payment. 

noun
  • Money given in return for work; salary or wages. 

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