array_merge() combines one or more arrays by appending elements, while array_combine() creates a new array from two separate arrays: one for the keys and one for the values. array_merge() is used to join arrays together, while array_combine() uses one array to create the keys and another to supply the values for a new array.
array_merge()
Function: Joins one or more arrays into a single array.
Behavior:
For numeric keys, it appends the values and re-indexes them starting from zero.
For string keys, if a key exists in more than one array, the value from the later array overwrites the earlier one.