These words refer to a limited or non-recurring piece of work. Stint is most clear about the once-only or temporary nature of the work; it suggests the limited period of time in which something is done.

• He never starred in a long-running play, though he did several short stints in repertory theatre; wandering from one university to another including stints at Sydney and Melbourne.

Stint thus suggests a relatively brief undertaking that is voluntary or agreed-upon. Assignment is both more formal and more general, and is applicable in a great many contexts. It indicates a limited commitment that is more likely to be involuntary than is the case with stint ; chafing at the unpleasant assignment that had fallen to him at the whim of his employer. But this need not always be so: offering to take on the two-week assignment himself. Furthermore, the word can refer to a permanent, long-term role: his assignment as company secretary lasted for 20 years. Or it may specifically apply to a student’s homework: a hard arithmetic assignment .

Chore and task both indicate a circumscribed or short-term undertaking, whether voluntary or not, and suggest an undertaking that will require a certain amount of effort. The words contrasts in that the more general task is more nearly neutral in its connotations, whereas chore suggests something particularly onerous, uninteresting or even unpleasant, despite the short duration suggested: relishing every task that fell to him, no matter how fiddling; complaining about how much he hated the chore of washing dishes after every meal. Also, task is less specific about duration and can suggest effort arising out of personal commitment or obligation: the task of political reform, to which he selflessly devoted his best efforts throughout a long life. Chore nearly always connotes grudging reluctance: when going to parties becomes a chore rather than a pleasure. Used in the plural, it applies to routine household or farm duties and has homely ring: to do the chores .

In the context of a specific, short-term effort, job and duty emphasize different aspects of task . Job is neutral and general, open to the qualification of context: looking forward to the job of building the garage at weekends; dreading the exasperating job of filling in his income tax return. Duty , by contrast, stresses either an involuntary or unpleasant task or one that calls up devoted commitment or dedication: my reluctant duty to set your punishment; soldiers put on mess duty ; the painful duty of sorting through his father’s effects; glad to undertake the duty of caring for the child in his wife’s absence.