The main difference is that mitosis happens in every cell in the body. Whereas, meiosis only happens in sex cells. Another difference is that mitosis produces two identical diploid daughter cells but meiosis produces four non-identical haploid daughter cells. The function of mitosis is maintain cell number, the rejuvenation after cell death and damage. The function of meiosis is to produce gametes that can combine with a gamete from the opposite sex to produce a zygote. DefinitionsDiploid - a cell with two sets of chromosomes, in humans this number is 46. Haploid - a cell with one set of chromosomes, in humans this number is 23. Gamete - a mature haploid cell.Zygote - formed from the combination of gametes, contains a combination of the DNA from both