buffet vs meal

buffet and meal both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
buffet	Yes	No	Yes	No
meal	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, meal is a hypernym of buffet; that is, meal is a word with a broader meaning than buffet:

Other hypernyms of buffet include repast.

buffet (noun)	meal (noun)
a piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining room; has shelves and drawers	the food served and eaten at one time
usually inexpensive bar	coarsely ground foodstuff; especially seeds of various cereal grasses or pulse
a meal set out on a buffet at which guests help themselves	any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times

buffet (verb)	meal (verb)
strike against forcefully
strike, beat repeatedly