倒れる vs 落ちる

[mrsspooky5154]

These two verbs, taoreru and ochiru both seem to mean to drop or fall, or collapse. Are they interchangeable? Or are there circumstances where you would use one over the other?

Thanks much in advance!

[ericf]

倒れる : to fall over, to topple
落ちる : to fall down, to drop

重ねた本が倒れた。
りんごが木から落ちた。

[mrsspooky5154]

Thanks much! That makes sense.

I was just wondering, because something I was reading was talking about two people falling down/collapsing (first one, then the other a short time later). For one they used taoreru, for the other they used ochiru. Possibly they didn't want to be redundant?