What is the difference between "meshi" and "don" for the food sometimes translated as "rice bowl" in English? I'm a big fan of the Japanese fast food gyudon (cooked thinly sliced beef strips on top of a bowl of boiled white rice) and its variants such as butadon (the same but with pork). But why do some chain restaurants call it "gyudon" and others "gyumeshi"? Are both spelled the same? Also at my local Japanese restaurant at home in Australia they seem to sell this dish but never understand me when I ask for gyudon. Does it have other names or are there simply dishes which seem alike to ignorant foreigners like me?

The _donburi_ in _gyūdon_ specifically denotes a _bowl of rice_.
The _meshi_ in _gyūmeshi_ just means _rice_ or even more generically _meal_.

Both describe the same thing:

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"See _gyūmeshi_."

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"A rice meal with onions and fried beef [...]. _Gyūdon._ "

I'm not sure which one is preferred in which situation, but personally I see more _gyūdon_ in daily life (caveat: I don't eat it too often though). There are many specialized kinds of _donburi_, while _meshi_ can be used for almost anything edible and is usually just used in the sense of "meal". It can also specifically denote _rice_ though, as in _yakimeshi_ \- "fried rice", which is more often called _chāhan_ though.