Collocations for distinguish - verb

clearly, sharply
carefully
easily, readily
The adult bird can be readily distinguished by its orange bill.

accurately, reliably
Troops cannot always reliably distinguish between combatants and civilians.

be able to, can, could, etc.
be unable to
be difficult to, be hard to, be impossible to, be possible to
be important to, be necessary to
It is important to distinguish between cause and effect.

between
It is often difficult to distinguish clearly between fact and fiction in this book.

from
She could not distinguish one child from another.

have difficulty distinguishing, have difficulty in distinguishing, have trouble distinguishing
Small children have difficulty distinguishing fiction from reality.

Distinguish is used with these nouns as the subject:
feature

Distinguish is used with these nouns as the object:
category, shape, type