baffle vs puzzle

baffle

verb
  • To bewilder completely; to confuse or perplex. 

  • To struggle in vain. 

noun
  • An architectural feature designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable. 

  • A device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether. 

  • A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine. 

puzzle

verb
  • To perplex, confuse, or mystify; to cause (someone) to be faced with a mystery, without answers or an explanation. 

  • To think long and carefully, in bewilderment. 

  • To make intricate; to entangle. 

noun
  • Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of. 

  • A riddle. 

  • The state of being puzzled; perplexity. 

  • A game for one or more people that is more or less difficult to work out or complete. 

  • A jigsaw puzzle. 

  • A crossword puzzle. 

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