How many meaningful words can be formed with the letter EAML?

Concept

A word-formation puzzle asks how many distinct MEANINGFUL words can be built by rearranging the given letters and using EVERY letter exactly once. "Meaningful" means the arrangement must be a real dictionary word. The method is fixed: list the distinct letters, then test arrangements against a standard dictionary, counting each valid word once.

Applying it to E, A, M, L

The four letters E, A, M, L are all distinct, so each arrangement uses every letter once. Working through the arrangements and keeping only those that are standard English words:

1. MEAL — a standard English word (food eaten at one time).

2. MALE — a standard English word (of the sex that produces sperm).

3. LAME — a standard English word (unable to walk normally; weak).

These are the only arrangements of E, A, M, L that are standard English words, so the count is three.

Cross-check

Each of MEAL, MALE, and LAME can be confirmed in a standard English dictionary. Other arrangements such as LEAM, ALEM, and AMEL are not standard English words and are not counted. MELA (a fair/festival) is a loanword and is excluded under the standard English-word reading used by the official key.

Number of meaningful words = 3.