mode vs stylus

mode

noun
  • Style or fashion; popular trend. 

  • A series of settings on a device used for a specific purpose. 

  • The openwork between the solid parts of a pattern. 

  • A verb form that depends on how its containing clause relates to the speaker’s or writer’s wish, intent, or assertion about reality. 

  • The most frequently occurring value in a distribution 

  • A variation in gameplay, such as a difficulty level. 

  • One of several common scales in modern Western music, one of which corresponds to the modern major scale and one to the natural minor scale. 

  • That which exists only as a quality of substance. 

  • One of various related sets of rules for processing data; more generally, any state of the system associated with certain behaviours. 

  • A particular means of accomplishing something. 

  • One of several ancient Greek scales. 

  • A particular state of being, or frame of mind. 

  • A state of a system that is represented by an eigenfunction of that system. 

  • In lace-making, a small decorative piece inserted into a pattern. 

stylus

noun
  • Synonym of style. 

  • A small implement with a pointed end used for engraving and tracing. 

  • A hard-pointed pen-shaped instrument for marking on stencils used in a mimeograph machine. 

  • An ancient writing implement consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on clay, wax-covered tablets or other surfaces, and a blunt end for obliterating them. 

  • A tool for making small dots on a piece of heavy paper, used to produce Braille writing for the blind by hand. 

  • A hard point, typically of diamond or sapphire, following a groove in a phonograph and transmitting the recorded sound for reproduction. 

  • A small device resembling a pen used to input handwritten text or drawings directly into an electronic device with a touch-sensitive screen. 

  • A pointed device formerly used to produce a groove in a record when recording sound. 

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