assign vs attribute

assign

verb
  • To allot or give (something) as a task. 

  • To give (a value) to a variable. 

  • To designate or set apart (something) for some purpose. 

  • To attribute or sort (something) into categories. 

  • To categorize (someone) as belonging to the male or female sex. 

  • To transfer (property, a legal right, etc.) from one person to another. 

  • To appoint or select (someone) for some office. 

noun
  • An assignee. 

attribute

verb
  • To ascribe (something) to a given cause, reason etc. 

  • To associate ownership or authorship of (something) to someone. 

noun
  • That which is predicated or affirmed of a subject; a predicate; an accident. 

  • A semantic item with which a method or other code element may be decorated. 

  • An object that is considered typical of someone or some function, in particular as an artistic convention. 

  • A word that qualifies a noun. 

  • A characteristic or quality of a thing. 

  • An option or setting belonging to some object. 

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