investigate vs explore

investigate and explore both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
investigate	No	No	Yes	No
explore	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, explore is a hyponym of investigate; that is, explore is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than investigate:

Other hyponyms of investigate include research, search, examine, probe, research, experiment.

investigate (verb)	explore (verb)
investigate scientifically	inquire into
conduct an inquiry or investigation of	travel to or penetrate into
	inquire into a subject in detail
	examine (organs) for diagnostic purposes