Polysemy

Polysemy is the association of a word with two or more meanings. For example, the word bright has different meanings in the sentences You have a bright future, The room is bright and She's a bright student. In the first sentence bright means full of hope, in the second it means full of light and in the third it means intelligent. The word get is also a good example of polysemy. Notice the different meanings of get in the following sentences:

I can get a refund.
I hope you get well soon.
I have to get home now.
I get the idea.
The police are confident they'll get the thief.

In the first sentence get has the meaning of receive. and in the second sentence get can be replaced with become. The third sentence has the common expression get home in which get can be replaced with arrive. In the fourth sentence get can be replaced with understand and in the fifth it has the meaning of capture.

All languages have examples of polysemy. In fact, many words have more than one meaning. In English the word get has many possible meanings. The examples illustrate five.