player vs striker

player

noun
  • A mechanism that actuates a player piano or other automatic musical instrument. 

  • An electronic device that plays audio and/or video media. 

  • One who plays any game or sport. 

  • One who is playful; one without serious aims; an idler; a trifler. 

  • A gambler. 

  • A software application that plays audio and/or video media, such as a media player. 

  • A participant; one involved in something. 

  • An actor in a dramatic play. 

  • One who plays on a musical instrument. 

  • A gamer; a player of video games or similar. 

  • A person who plays the field rather than having a long-term sexual relationship. 

striker

noun
  • A mechanism of a firearm acting upon the firing pin. 

  • An individual who is on strike. 

  • An officer's servant or orderly. 

  • A piece of metal used to attract a magnet, or as a keeper for a magnet. 

  • A piece of metal struck against a flint or quartz-rock to produce sparks; a steel. 

  • A blacksmith's assistant who wields the sledgehammer. 

  • A piece used to push other pieces toward the pockets in the Asian game of carom. 

  • The batsman who is currently facing the bowler and defending his wicket. 

  • The batter. 

  • One of the players on a team in football (soccer) in the row nearest to the opposing team's goal, who are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals. 

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