The theme of the course paper is polysemy. The work consists of introduction where the choice of the theme is substantiated and the aim of the work with its dismemberment for intercommunicated complex of tasks are defined which are subject to decision for opening of the theme. There are two chapters in the main part. It observes the word meaning, the word - the basic unit of language which unites the form and the meaning. Also it contains approaches to meaning: the functional approach supports that a linguistic study of meaning is the investigation of the relation of sign to sign only; the referential approach seeks to formulate the essence of meaning by establishing the interdependence between words and things or concepts they denote. Types of the meaning: grammatical, lexical, connotational and denotational meanings. Grammatical meaning is the element of plurality, tense endings, possessive case and so on. Lexical meaning is the same semantic component which several words have. Connotational and denotational meaning - the lexical meaning is not homogeneous either and may be analysed as including denotational that component of the lexical meaning which makes communication possible and connotational component which consist of emotive charge that is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as linguistic units and forms a part of the connotational component of meaning and stylistic reference.