tell apart
phrasal verb
told apart; telling apart; tells apart
: to see what the differences are between (people or things) : to identify (people or things that look similar to each other)
It's hard to tell the twins apart.
Examples of tell apart in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The gold buckle on top of the Bison Spirit mule is impossible to tell apart from the real thing.
—
Kristine Solomon, Travel + Leisure, 27 Aug. 2023
One of these, which has never before been used on Mars, is there to tell apart left- and right-handed amino acids, enabling it to make a case for living or nonliving origins in a way that prior missions could not.
—Carmen Drahl, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 May 2023
Kristine Solomon, Travel + Leisure, 27 Aug. 2023
One of these, which has never before been used on Mars, is there to tell apart left- and right-handed amino acids, enabling it to make a case for living or nonliving origins in a way that prior missions could not.
—Carmen Drahl, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 May 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tell apart.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near tell apart
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“Tell apart.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tell%20apart. Accessed 30 Sep. 2023.
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