I asked myself after reading in academic advanced Cambridge the following definition of matter and its properties, states.

In physics, the properties of matter are distinguished in the three following classes: Solid, Liquid, Gaseous

I talked to a girl friend. She is speaking native English and she is a English teacher for kids. She said, that "distinguished", in her view, isn't commonly used. It's more common to use "divided" and she said also to define the "States of Matter", "distinct classes" would describe it better. What I would also confirm.

So I worked out the following definition:

In physical science, the properties of matter are divided into (or in?) three distinct classes called states as following: solids, liquid, gaseous.

Question: would it be better to use "distinguished", use "distinguished" with "in" or "into", and same for "divided into" or "in"?