polysemicadj.

1930 S.P.E. Tract (Soc. for Pure Eng.) No. XXXIV. 463 Even the names of concrete things are nearly always polysemic, though this may not be perceptible until we compare them with corresponding words in other languages. The word leg, for instance, may be applied to the supports of a table or chair, and the legs of an insect in English, but not in French.

1954 Eng. Stud. 35 170 The cropping up of new senses may lead to polysemic conflicts, causing older senses to disappear.

1976 G. Steiner in D. Villiers Next Year in Jerusalem 67 The elaborate investigations of the Kabbalists into the polysemic nature of the written word.

1998 Euralex '98 Proc. I. ii. 61 Thus, dotted types in the hierarchy express relations that generally hold between different senses of polysemic words, such as the relation observed in container nouns between the container and the containee.