Elementary substances exist in various forms. For example, helium and other rare gas elements exist as single-atom molecules; hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen as two-atom molecules; carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur as several solid allotropes; and sodium, gold, etc. as bulk metals.
A simple substance of a metallic element is usually called bulk metal, and the word “metal” may be used to mean a bulk metal and “metal atom or metal ion” define the state where every particle is discrete.