pick up vs place

pick up

verb
  • To answer a telephone. 

  • To acquire (something) accidentally; to catch (a disease). 

  • To collect and detain (a suspect). 

  • To lift; to grasp and raise. 

  • To clean up; to return to an organized state. 

  • To point out the behaviour, habits, or actions of (a person) in a critical manner; used with on. 

  • To meet and seduce somebody for romantic purposes, especially in a social situation. 

  • To receive calls; to function correctly. 

  • To record; to notch up. 

  • To learn, to grasp; to begin to understand; to realize. 

  • To promote somebody who was previously passed over. 

  • To collect an object, especially in passing. 

  • To take control (physically) of something. 

  • To mark, to defend against an opposition player by following them closely. 

  • To behave in a manner that results in a foul. 

  • To restart or resume. 

  • To receive (a radio signal or the like). 

  • To notice, detect or discern; to pick up on 

  • To improve, increase, or speed up. 

  • To reduce the despondency of. 

  • To pay for. 

  • To obtain and publish a story, news item, etc. 

  • To collect a passenger. 

place

verb
  • To establish a call (connection by telephone or similar). 

  • To arrange for or to make (a bet). 

  • To finish second, especially of horses or dogs. 

  • To sing (a note) with the correct pitch. 

  • To earn a given spot in a competition. 

  • To rank at (a certain position, often followed by an ordinal) as in a horse race. 

  • To remember where and when (an object or person) has been previously encountered. 

  • To put (an object or person) in a specific location. 

  • To recruit or match an appropriate person for a job, or a home for an animal for adoption, etc. 

  • To place-kick (a goal). 

noun
  • An inhabited area: a village, town, or city. 

  • Numerically, the column counting a certain quantity. 

  • A state of mind. 

  • The position of first, second, or third at the finish, especially the second position. 

  • An area of the body, especially the skin. 

  • An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard. 

  • The position of a contestant in a competition. 

  • A location or position in space. 

  • Reception; effect; implying the making room for. 

  • The area one occupies, particularly somewhere to sit. 

  • A role or purpose; a station. 

  • A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name. 

  • The area where one lives: one's home, formerly (chiefly) country estates and farms. 

  • A particular location in a book or document, particularly the current location of a reader. 

  • The position as a member of a sports team. 

  • Ordinal relation; position in the order of proceeding. 

  • An area to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory. 

  • Any area of the earth: a region. 

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