ossify vs alter

ossify and alter both are verbs.

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

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

Other hypernyms of ossify include change, modify.

ossify (verb)	alter (verb)
become bony	remove the ovaries of
cause to become hard and bony	become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence
make rigid and set into a conventional pattern	cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
	insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
	make an alteration to