These words seem to be used interchangeably, but there seems to be a slight difference between them.
'Collecting' seems to be organized gathering of certain objects or a certain category of objects, e.g. collecting stamps. 'Accumulate' seems to be haphazard or otherwise unorganized gathering of something, such as the activity of accumulating as many points as possible in any given arcade game. I do not know what distinctive traits 'accrue' would have.
Can anyone please clarify the distinctions and differences between these three words?
Best Answer
The words mean pretty much the same thing.
In practice, one or the other tends to be preferred in any given context. Like we say that a person "collects stamps" or "collects classic cars", not that he accumulates them. But we say that a person "accumulated a large sum of money" or "accumulated a pile of trash".
"Accrue" is rarely used except with the specific technical meaning that Dilip refers to: something that is due you but that you haven't yet collected. The only examples I can think of off the top of my head are interest on a deposit, as in, "Interest is accrued daily and paid monthly", and vacation time or sick time, as in, "You accrue one and a half vacation days per month worked." (You don't necessarily have to take off one and a half days every month, but you accumulate the right at that rate.) Occasionally people use it to mean "accumulate" in a more general sense, like, "He accrued experience over the course of many years", but that's pretty rare.
I'm grasping for a general rule of when to use "collect" versus "accumulate". Perhaps "collect" has the connotation of selecting individual items, while "accumulate" is used more for an amorphous quantity. You "collect a debt" but you "accumulate wealth" -- the debt is specific but the wealth is general. You "collect fine china" but you "accumulate dishes". Etc.