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Recently I have discovered that there are so many 訓読み for 灯, and all of them seem to carry similar meanings, surrounding the core concept of "light." Can someone explain to me the differences in meaning among each of these?
How do I know which one to use if I wanna say "light?" And how do I know which reading to use when I see 灯?
First note that officially 灯 has only ひ as kun-reading (とう as on-reading). Officially means other readings are not listed in 常用漢字.
Regarding あかり and ひ, most probably it will be understood as 明かり and 火（or 日, which has a different meaning). If 灯 is used for those readings in a novel, say, then it suggests the light of torches, street lights, or something similar.
On how to read 灯
If 灯 is used alone, then on-reading とう is unlikely. Between あかり and ひ, り tends to be added for 灯り for disambiguation. And ともしび tends to be written as 灯火, so the chances are that a single 灯 is ひ, but there remains ambiguity without a ruby. In general there are fluctuations in okuri-kana (送り仮名), and same words can be written differently according to the author's styles or tastes (e.g. 終わり / 終り).
