tell apart

(verb) detect with the senses. Synonyms: spot, recognize, recognise, distinguish, discern, pick out, make out, tell apart. Examples: "The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards." "I can't make out the faces in this photograph."

(verb) mark as different. Synonyms: distinguish, separate, differentiate, secern, secernate, severalize, severalise, tell, tell apart. Example: "We distinguish several kinds of maple."