acknowledgment vs reply

acknowledgment

noun
  • A reward or other expression or token of gratitude. 

  • The act of a person admitting a child as their own. 

  • A response (ACK) sent by a receiver to indicate successful receipt of a transmission (See Wikipedia article on transmission). 

  • A recognition as genuine or valid; an avowing or admission in legal form. 

  • The act of recognizing in a particular character or relationship; recognition of existence, authority, truth, or genuineness. 

  • A formal statement or document recognizing the fulfillment or execution of a legal requirement or procedure. 

  • An expression of gratitude for a benefit or an obligation. 

  • A message from the addressee informing the originator that the originator's communication has been received and understood. 

  • The act of acknowledging 

reply

noun
  • Something given in reply. 

  • A counterattack. 

  • A document written by a party specifically replying to a responsive declaration and in some cases an answer. 

  • The answer of a figure. 

  • A written or spoken response; part of a conversation. 

verb
  • To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer. 

  • To act or gesture in response. 

  • To repeat something back; to echo. 

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