Elohim - one or many

Some say that Elohim is a plural noun for eloah meaning 'gods' and conclude that there are many gods, or it is like the 'royal we' when the king speaks of himself in plural form. But this is a secondary meaning which cannot be applied to all instances. You can see how this causes problems, since God calls men elohim, and there is only one singular God. How do we make sense of this? We will use notarikon.