occupy vs populate

occupy and populate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
occupy	No	No	Yes	No
populate	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, populate is a hypernym of occupy; that is, populate is a word with a broader meaning than occupy:

Other hypernyms of occupy include dwell, inhabit, live.

occupy (verb)	populate (verb)
consume all of one's attention or time	fill with inhabitants
march aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation	be an inhabitant of or reside in
require (time or space)
keep busy with
assume, as of positions or roles
live (in a certain place)
occupy the whole of
be on the mind of