spasm vs twinge

spasm

noun
  • A violent, excruciating seizure of pain. 

  • A sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ. 

  • A sudden and temporary burst of energy, activity, or emotion. 

verb
  • To produce and undergo a spasm or series of spasms. 

twinge

noun
  • A sudden sharp pain. 

  • A pinch; a tweak; a twitch. 

verb
  • To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain. 

  • To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains. 

  • To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak. 

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