alter vs sterilise

alter and sterilise both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
alter	No	No	Yes	No
sterilise	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, sterilise is a hypernym of alter; that is, sterilise is a word with a broader meaning than alter:

Other hypernyms of alter include desex, desexualise, desexualize, fix, sterilize, unsex.

alter (verb)	sterilise (verb)
remove the ovaries of	make infertile
become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence	make free from bacteria
cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
make an alteration to