clash vs spat

clash

verb
  • To make a clashing sound. 

  • To coincide, to happen at the same time, thereby rendering it impossible to attend all. 

  • To argue angrily. 

  • To chatter or gossip. 

  • To come into violent conflict. 

  • To fail to look good together; to contrast unattractively; to fail to harmonize. 

  • To face each other in an important game. 

  • To cause to make a clashing sound. 

noun
  • A loud sound, like the crashing together of metal objects. 

  • A skirmish, a hostile encounter. 

  • match; a game between two sides. 

  • An angry argument 

  • Opposition; contradiction; such as between differing or contending interests, views, purposes etc. 

  • Chatter; gossip; idle talk. 

  • A combination of garments that do not look good together, especially because of conflicting colours. 

  • An instance of restarting the game after a "dead ball", where it is dropped between two opposing players, who can fight for possession. 

spat

verb
  • To strike with a spattering sound. 

  • To slap, as with the open hand; to clap together, as the hands. 

  • To spawn. Used of shellfish as above. 

  • To quarrel or argue briefly. 

noun
  • A covering or decorative covering worn over a shoe. 

  • A brief argument, falling out, quarrel. 

  • A juvenile shellfish which has attached to a hard surface. 

  • A drag-reducing aerodynamic fairing covering the upper portions of the tyres of an aeroplane equipped with non-retractable landing gear. 

  • A piece of bodywork that covers the upper portions of the rear tyres of a car. 

  • An obsolete unit of distance in astronomy (symbol S), equal to one billion kilometres. 

  • A light blow with something flat. 

  • The spawn of shellfish, especially oysters and similar molluscs. 

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