tell apart vs differentiate

tell apart and differentiate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
tell apart	No	No	Yes	No
differentiate	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, tell apart and differentiate are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of tell apart include distinguish, secern, secernate, separate, severalise, severalize, tell.

tell apart (verb)	differentiate (verb)
mark as different	become distinct and acquire a different character
detect with the senses	become different during development
	evolve so as to lead to a new species or develop in a way most suited to the environment
	calculate a derivative; take the derivative
	mark as different
	be a distinctive feature, attribute, or trait; sometimes in a very positive sense