【Flash】 , 【gleam】 , 【glance】 , 【glint】 , 【sparkle】 , 【glitter】 , 【glisten】 , 【scintillate】 , 【coruscate】 , 【twinkle】 mean to shoot forth light (as in rays or sparks).
【Flash】 implies a sudden and transient outburst of light or a sudden display of something that brilliantly reflects light or seems lighted up.
【Gleam】 implies a ray which shines through an intervening medium or against a background of relative darkness.
【Glance】 implies darting or obliquely reflected light; 【glint】 implies quickly glancing or gleaming light.
【Sparkle】 suggests quick, bright, brief, and innumerable small flashes of light; 【glitter】 connotes greater brilliancy or showiness than 【sparkle】 , sometimes with the implication of something sinister.
【Glisten】 implies a more or less subdued 【sparkle】 , 【glitter】 , or gleaming that suggests the lustrous shining quality of a moist surface.
【Scintillate】 implies the emission of sparks in a steady stream or a sparkling suggestive of such an emission; 【coruscate】 the emission of a brilliant 【flash】 or succession of flashes; both words have extended as well as literal use.
【Twinkle】 suggests a soft and intermittent sparkling, often wavering and lustrous.
