According to my dictionary, the following words all mean the same thing: "Dinner":
[夜]{よる}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩]{ばん}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩飯]{ばんめし}, [晩食]{ばんしょく}, [夕]{ゆう}ご[飯]{はん}, [夕飯]{ゆうはん(ゆうめし)}, [夕食]{ゆうしょく}
A similar thing goes for "Breakfast" ([朝]{あさ}ご[飯]{はん}, [朝飯]{あさめし}, [朝食]{ちょうしょく}) and "Lunch" ([昼]{ひる}ご[飯]{はん}, [昼飯]{ひるめし}, [昼食]{ちゅうしょく})
What's the difference between them? Are they mostly interchangeable? Which ones are more commonly used or is it a matter of preference? etc.
My current understanding is that the ones that end in ご飯 are politer.
Answer
[夕・晩・夜] + [ご飯・飯・食]
(1) ~~ + ご[飯]{はん}
We have [夕]{ゆう}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩]{ばん}ご[飯]{はん}, [夜]{よる}ご[飯]{はん}.
I don't see much difference among them. We (especially children and women) use ~~ご飯 most in daily conversation. I normally use 晩ご飯 and 夜ご飯, and I think my mother uses 夕ご飯 too.
(2) ~~ + [食]{しょく}
We have [夕食]{ゆうしょく}. I didn't know [晩食]{ばんしょく} so I googled it, and I got some 30,000 results. It's less common so you wouldn't need to know 晩食 to pass JLPT. ([夜食]{やしょく} is "bedtime snack".)
~~食 sounds politer and more formal than ~~ご[飯]{はん} and ~~[飯]{はん/めし}. When you go to a hotel or an inn([旅館]{りょかん}), you will hear/see:
「(ご)[夕食]{ゆうしょく}は、６[時]{じ}からとなっております。」
「[夕食]{ゆうしょく}[付]{つ}き:[一泊一万円]{いっぱくいちまんえん}。」
but not
「[晩]{ばん}(or[夕]{ゆう}/[夜]{よる})ご[飯]{はん}は、６時からとなっております」
「[夕飯]{ゆうはん}/[晩飯]{ばんめし}は、６時からとなっております。」
「晩(or夜/夕)ご飯付き:一泊一万円。」
「夕飯付き/晩飯付き:一泊１万円。」
(3) ~~ + [飯]{はん/めし}
We have [夕飯]{ゆうはん} and [晩飯]{ばんめし}. (I think 夕飯 can also be read ゆうめし but I think only guys use that word, in casual speech. Here again, I think you can pass JLPT without knowing the reading ゆうめし.)
As @istrasci-san mentions, "~~[飯]{めし}" sounds masculine and rough.
I googled 夜飯 and よるめし, and got quite a few results, though there're a lot of Chinese pages, too (Please see @Flaw's comment below). Anyway it's not so common so I think you can survive in Japan without knowing 夜飯/よるめし.
My mother sometimes uses お[夕飯]{ゆうはん} when talking to us or to our neighbors, like
「そろそろ、お[夕飯]{ゆうはん}の[支度]{したく}しなくっちゃ。」
「そろそろ、[晩ご飯]{ばんごはん}/[夜ご飯]{よるごはん}の支度しなくっちゃ。」
but she wouldn't say:
「そろそろ、[夕食]{ゆうしょく}の支度しなくっちゃ。」, or
「そろそろ、[晩飯]{ばんめし}の支度しなくっちゃ。」unless she's trying to sound funny.
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