The verb distinguish has 5 senses (first 3 from tagged texts)
1. (17) distinguish, separate, differentiate, secern, secernate, severalize, severalise, tell, tell apart -- (mark as different; "We distinguish several kinds of maple")
2. (6) recognize, recognise, distinguish, discern, pick out, make out, tell apart -- (detect with the senses; "The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards"; "I can't make out the faces in this photograph")
3. (3) distinguish, mark, differentiate -- (be a distinctive feature, attribute, or trait; sometimes in a very positive sense; "His modesty distinguishes him from his peers")
4. signalize, signalise, distinguish -- (make conspicuous or noteworthy)
5. identify, discover, key, key out, distinguish, describe, name -- (identify as in botany or biology, for example)