Assign a key part (5)
I believe the answer is:
award
'assign' is the definition.
(I know that award is a type of allocate)
'a key part' is the wordplay.
'key part' becomes 'ward' (I have seen 'Part of hospital ' mean 'ward' so perhaps 'part' could also mean 'ward'. I am not sure about the 'key' bit.).
'a'+'ward'='AWARD'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for award that I've seen before include "Grant, confer" , "Write up" , "Grant made by a court of law" , "Prize in recognition of achievement" , "Present - prize" .)