So I've had both- but the bone bruise knee had articular cartalige tears along with the brusie which mimicked a meniscus tear and the other knee has a meniscus tear.
For both knees I had :
-A bad ache especially at rest, when stressing, when fighting with my boyfriend, sleeping, when watching tv, pretty much all the time.
-twisting pain
-any activity aggravated it
-painkillers didn't work even narcotics to ease the pain but ice helped
With the meniscus knee:
-i am able to walk pretty normal for 5 minutes before I limp BADLY.
-some days there would be no irritation while other days I limped.
-sometimes when walking I would start to limp because the pain came from no where on stepping but resolved within 5 minutes
For me it seemed like the same symptoms but I did have cartalige damage in the bruised knee, so I'm not the best at telling you bone bruise symptoms.
I think for the bone bruise you'd have consistent symptoms and with a meniscus tear they are inconsistent
