dissimilate vs alter

dissimilate and alter both are verbs.

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

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

Other hypernyms of dissimilate include change, modify.

dissimilate (verb)	alter (verb)
become dissimilar or less similar	remove the ovaries of
make dissimilar; cause to become less similar	become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence
become dissimilar by changing the sound qualities	cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
	insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
	make an alteration to