The present study deals with the scope of lexis denoting females in the Russian language. This research arises from the analysis of a specific lexical-semantic group of Russian words not only in literary language (dictionaries), but also in spontaneous speech, using the speaker's mental lexicon. As shown in the results of our analysis, polysemy is a common feature of these words in both for dictionaries and spontaneous speech, while the semantics of the usage in speech is more flexible and resilient than dictionary definitions. The results of this study can be used as a reference for in teaching Russian as a foreign language and translation practice.