glimmer vs sparkle

glimmer

verb
  • To shine with a faint, unsteady light. 

noun
  • A faint or remote possibility. 

  • A faint light; a dim glow. 

  • A flash of light. 

sparkle

verb
  • To shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle 

  • To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash. 

  • To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles 

  • To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce 

  • To emit in the form or likeness of sparks. 

noun
  • Brilliance; luster. 

  • Liveliness; vivacity. 

  • The quality of being sparkling or fizzy; effervescence. 

  • A little spark; a scintillation. 

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