puzzle vs vex

puzzle

verb
  • To make intricate; to entangle. 

  • To think long and carefully, in bewilderment. 

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

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. 

vex

verb
  • To twist, to weave. 

  • To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet. 

  • To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress. 

  • To annoy, irritate. 

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