act vs perform

act

verb
  • To do something. 

  • Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly). 

  • To perform a theatrical role. 

  • To play (a role). 

  • To convey an appearance of being. 

  • To map via a homomorphism to a group of automorphisms (of). 

  • To feign. 

  • To have an effect (on). 

  • To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time. 

  • To do something that causes a change binding on the doer. 

noun
  • A product of a legislative body, a statute. 

  • A display of behaviour. 

  • A display of behaviour meant to deceive. 

  • A division of a theatrical performance. 

  • Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work. 

  • Any organized activity. 

  • A performer or performers in a show. 

  • A formal or official record of something done. 

  • The process of doing something. 

  • A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student. 

  • Something done, a deed. 

perform

verb
  • To do (something); to execute. 

  • To fulfill contractually agreed-to terms. 

  • To exhibit an expected pattern of behavior; to function; to work. 

  • To act in accordance with (a contract); to fulfill one’s terms of (a contract). 

  • To do (something) in front of an audience, such as acting or music, often in order to entertain. 

  • To behave theatrically so as to give the impression of (a quality, character trait, etc.); to feign. 

  • To behave in accordance with, and thereby in turn shape, (a social notion or role). 

  • To behave in ways that carry meaning in social contexts. 

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