attribute vs distinction

attribute

noun
  • A characteristic or quality of a thing. 

  • 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. 

  • An option or setting belonging to some object. 

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

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

distinction

noun
  • Specifically, a feature that causes someone or something to stand out as being better; a mark of honour, rank, eminence or excellence; being distinguished. 

  • That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination. 

  • The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination. 

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