litter vs scatter

litter

noun
  • Collectively, items discarded on the ground. 

  • Material used as bedding for animals. 

  • A platform mounted on two shafts, or a more elaborate construction, designed to be carried by two (or more) people to transport one (in luxury models sometimes more) third person(s) or (occasionally in the elaborate version) a cargo, such as a religious idol. 

  • A covering of straw for plants. 

  • Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray 

  • The offspring of a mammal born in one birth. 

  • Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor. 

verb
  • To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles). 

  • To give birth to, used of animals. 

  • To strew (a place) with scattered articles. 

  • To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. 

  • To scatter carelessly about. 

  • To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. 

  • To produce a litter of young. 

scatter

noun
  • A collection of dispersed objects. 

  • The act of scattering or dispersing. 

verb
  • To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse. 

  • Of a pitcher: to keep down the number of hits or walks. 

  • To deflect (radiation or particles). 

  • To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals. 

  • To distribute loosely as by sprinkling. 

  • To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow. 

  • To be dispersed upon. 

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