随着科技的突飞猛进以及电脑资讯的普及，科学术语、电脑词汇与日俱增;即使同一个字，有时意思在增加，用途也在扩大。工业或行政上的 input 和 output 和电脑上的意思，哪会完全相同?小孩时期看到在地上跑的 mouse 和现在出现在电脑旁的 mouse，形状相似，但意思也一样吗?

不说特殊用语，就是天天见面的常用字，不管是名词、形容词、动词或副词，十九都是多义词，甚至是多种词类的，既可当名词、动词，又可当形容词，甚至副词。

关于这点，《英语词汇：意思和用法》一文中已举例说明，大家应该记忆犹新，不再重复。

由于一词多义在英语词汇的运用上非常重要，这里不厌其烦地再举一个家喻户晓的常用字 break，以加强我对这点的重视。

作为动词，break 有下列 12 个常用意思：

① 打破、断，如：(a) If you drop the cup, you will break it. (b) The rope suddenly broke.

② 违反、违约，如：(a) Don’t break the law. (b) Tom is notorious for breaking promises.

③ 伤、毁，如：(a) Tony broke Jane’s heart by not marrying her. (b) Judy dropped her watch and broke it.

④ 中断、打断，如：(a) The barking of the dog broke our sleep. (b) The stranger rushed in and broke our conversation.

⑤ 破晓，如：They arrived at the airport just as the day was breaking.

⑥ 放弃，如：It is hard to break the habit of smoking.

⑦ 开路，如：We sometimes saw voluntary workers help break paths in villages.

⑧ 毫无得失，如：He bought the sewing machine at $700 and sold it at the same price. He broke even on the deal.

⑨ 闯入，如：A thief broke into my neigbour’s house and ran away with some valuables.

⑩ 爆发，如：If a new world war breaks out, can you imagine the consequences?

11. 突破，如：The soldiers tried to break through the enemy’s line.

12. 停止，如：The meeting suddenly broke up.

当名词时，break 有 5 个常见义，如下：

① 裂口：Please send for a plumber to repair the break in the water pipe.

② 拂晓：Fish mongers start work at the break of the day.

③ 吃茶点时间：A few of us have a tea-break at 11am every day.

④ 休息：There is one-hour break for lunch.

⑤ 变动：The bankrupt man has a break in his way of living.