I think these are like "I need to see a guy about a horse" and "I need to meet a guy about a dog." Or You want to say: Participate in a meeting; be a person that asks or answers questions. and Attend a meeting; sit, listen and try not to sleep during a meeting.

Participating implies active involvement - e.g. you are part of the discussion, adding your thoughts and ideas. Attending merely means you turn up - e.g. you may go to the meeting but simply sit and watch and listen without adding anything yourself. E.g I participated in a game of football (you played) I attended a game of football (you watched) Hope this helps :)

Both are wrong, anyway. You participate IN a meeting. You attend a meeting. If you really want to understand the meaning of words, use a dictionary. That would have corrected your error as well.

If you attend you go So you go to a meeting E.g. I attend school = I go to school If you participate you join in Do you join in, in a meeting E.g. I participated in a race = I joined in a race

You might attend a meeting. Someone might ask or require you to attend a meeting, or you could attend one because you want to be there. If you participate in a meeting, you might be in charge of the meeting, be a speaker at the meeting, or volunteer to do something at the meeting. You would not just be attending, or listening to others, but in this case you would have something to do with the leadership of the meeting. You would be more involved if you are participating.