You can use a multimeter on diode check to identify the pinouts of a diode and find which is the anode and cathode. It will also give a rough idea of what type of diode it is from the voltage drop as different colours have diferent voltage drops.
It won't tell you if the diode works though - you can have a laser diode that won't lase or won't even emit light and it will still look like a normal diode on a multimeter.