modest vs sparse

modest

adj
  • Small, moderate in size. 

  • Intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. 

  • Not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements; unpretentious, humble. 

  • Pure and delicate from a sense of propriety. 

sparse

adj
  • Not dense; meager; scanty 

  • Having few nonzero elements 

  • Having widely spaced intervals. 

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