personate vs play-act

personate

verb
  • To portray a character (as in a play); to act. 

  • To fraudulently portray another person; to impersonate. 

  • To attribute personal characteristics to something; to personify. 

  • To set forth in an unreal character; to disguise; to mask. 

adj
  • Having the throat of a corolla nearly closed by a projection of the base of the lower lip (in a way reminiscent of a mask), as in the flower of the snapdragon. 

play-act

verb
  • To play (a scene, role etc.); to act out. 

  • To engage in pretence or insincere behavior, often in order to mislead someone or gain an advantage. 

  • To perform on stage; to act in a play. 

  • To make a pretence of; to feign or simulate. 

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