asignar

To assign — a task, a value, a budget, a seat (asignar una tarea, asignar un presupuesto, asignar un asiento). It's neutral, administrative vocabulary used across work, school, and technical contexts, including programming, where asignar una variable means "to assign a variable."

• El profesor asignó un capítulo de lectura para el fin de semana. — The teacher assigned a chapter of reading for the weekend.
• Le asignaron un presupuesto mayor al departamento de ventas. — The sales department was assigned a larger budget.
• En programación, se usa el signo igual para asignar un valor a una variable. — In programming, the equals sign is used to assign a value to a variable.

Confusing asignar (to allocate/designate something to someone) with designar (to appoint someone to a role/position) — asignar is about giving out tasks, resources, or values, while designar is specifically about naming someone to a post.

Often confused with designar.