case vs thing

case

noun
  • A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine. 

  • An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms. 

  • A small fissure which admits water into the workings. 

  • A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture. 

  • A thin layer of harder metal on the surface of an object whose deeper metal is allowed to remain soft. 

  • The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer. 

  • A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch. 

  • Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language. 

  • A legal proceeding, lawsuit. 

  • A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession. 

  • An instance or event as a topic of study. 

  • A box, sheath, or covering generally. 

  • A specific inflection of a word (particularly a noun, pronoun, or adjective) depending on its function in the sentence. 

  • A suitcase. 

  • A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces). 

  • An actual event, situation, or fact. 

  • An enclosing frame or casing. 

  • A cardboard box that holds (usually 24) beer bottles or cans. 

  • Four of a kind. 

  • A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed. 

  • The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter. 

  • A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces. 

adj
  • The last remaining card of a particular rank. 

verb
  • To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery. 

  • To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment. 

  • To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose. 

thing

noun
  • Clothes, possessions or equipment. 

  • A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country. 

  • A unit or container, usually containing edible goods. 

  • A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor. 

  • Corporeal object. 

  • That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept. 

  • A romantic relationship. 

  • Alternate form of ting. 

  • One's typical routine, habits, or manner. (Used in possessive constructions.) 

  • Used after a noun to refer dismissively to the situation surrounding the noun's referent. 

  • A genuine concept, entity or phenomenon; something that actually exists (often contrary to expectation or belief). 

  • An individual object or distinct entity. 

  • That which is favoured; personal preference. (Used in possessive constructions.) 

  • A living being or creature. 

  • A penis. 

  • Whatever can be owned. 

  • Girl; attractive woman. 

  • That which matters; the crux. 

  • A romantic couple. 

  • A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity. 

verb
  • To express as a thing; to reify. 

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