cipher vs signs

cipher

verb
  • Of an organ pipe: to sound independent of the organ. 

  • To write in code or cipher. 

noun
  • Any text character. 

  • A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name. 

  • A fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed. 

  • The path (usually circular) shared cannabis takes through a group, an occasion of cannabis smoking. 

  • Someone or something of no importance. 

  • A numeric character. 

  • A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning. 

  • A cryptographic system using an algorithm that converts letters or sequences of bits into ciphertext. 

  • A hip-hop jam session. 

  • Ciphertext; a message concealed via a cipher. 

  • A grouping of three digits in a number, especially when delimited by commas or periods 

signs

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