how can you tell a bad starter. from a bad neutral safety switch. are the sign same.
If you hear the starter relay make a clicking noise when you try to start the engine, it’s the starter. Other than that, you just have to bypass the neutral switch and see if the starter works.
One way to tell them apart (among many others) is to shift to neutral if you have an automatic transmission and see if it starts. If the starter will not turn over the engine in park or neutral it’s probably a bad starter or some component associated with the starter.