inactivate vs alter

inactivate and alter both are verbs.

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

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

Other hypernyms of inactivate include change, modify.

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