multiply vs proliferate

multiply and proliferate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
multiply	No	No	Yes	Yes
proliferate	No	No	Yes	No

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

Other hyponyms of multiply include double, duplicate, treble, triple, quadruple, quintuple.

multiply (verb)	proliferate (verb)
have young (animals) or reproduce (organisms)	grow rapidly
have offspring or produce more individuals of a given animal or plant	cause to grow or increase rapidly
combine or increase by multiplication
make multiple copies of
combine by multiplication

multiply (adverb)	proliferate (adverb)
in several ways; in a multiple manner