germination vs ontogenesis

germination and ontogenesis both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
germination	Yes	No	No	No
ontogenesis	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, ontogenesis is a hypernym of germination; that is, ontogenesis is a word with a broader meaning than germination:

germination: the process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow
ontogenesis: (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level

Other hypernyms of germination include development, growing, growth, maturation, ontogeny.

germination (noun)	ontogenesis (noun)
the origin of some development	(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level
the process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow