stage vs step

stage

noun
  • A phase. 

  • A platform; a surface, generally elevated, upon which show performances or other public events are given. 

  • One of the portions of a device (such as a rocket or thermonuclear weapon) which are used or activated in a particular order, one after another. 

  • A floor or storey of a house. 

  • The number of an electronic circuit’s block, such as a filter, an amplifier, etc. 

  • A stagecoach, an enclosed horsedrawn carriage used to carry passengers. 

  • A place where anything is publicly exhibited, or a remarkable affair occurs; the scene. 

  • The succession of rock strata laid down in a single age on the geologic time scale. 

  • The place on a microscope where the slide is located for viewing. 

  • An internship. 

  • A platform, often floating, serving as a kind of wharf. 

  • A level; one of the sequential areas making up the game. 

  • A floor elevated for the convenience of mechanical work, etc.; scaffolding; staging. 

verb
  • To produce on a stage, to perform a play. 

  • To demonstrate in a deceptive manner. 

  • To orchestrate; to carry out. 

  • To place in position to prepare for use. 

  • To determine what stage (a disease, etc.) has progressed to 

  • To jettison a spent stage of a multistage rocket or other launch vehicle and light the engine(s) of the stage above it. 

step

noun
  • A distinct part of a process; stage; phase. 

  • The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running. 

  • The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale. 

  • A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus. 

  • The part of a spade, digging stick or similar tool that a digger's foot rests against and presses on when digging; an ear, a foot-rest. 

  • A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder. 

  • A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track. 

  • Proceeding; measure; action; act. 

  • One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs. 

  • A small space or distance. 

  • A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position. 

  • A framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specifically, a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast. 

  • A gait; manner of walking. 

  • An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace. 

  • A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves. 

  • A change of position effected by a motion of translation. 

  • A walk; passage. 

  • A stepchild. 

  • A stepsibling. 

  • A constant difference between consecutive values in a series. 

verb
  • To dance. 

  • To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. 

  • To move mentally; to go in imagination. 

  • To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance. 

  • To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession. 

  • To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect. 

  • To set, as the foot. 

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