punishment vs recompense

punishment

noun
  • A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution 

  • A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime. 

  • Any harsh treatment or experience; rough handling. 

  • The act or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction. 

recompense

noun
  • An equivalent returned for anything given, done, or suffered; compensation; reward; amends; requital. 

  • That which compensates for an injury, or other type of harm or damage. 

verb
  • To reward or repay (someone) for something done, given etc. 

  • To give compensation for an injury, or other type of harm or damage. 

  • To give (something) in return; to pay back; to pay, as something earned or deserved. 

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