The aim of the study is to identify the relationship between notions of derivational deductibility and lexical usage of derived words in the linguistic consciousness and their actual functioning in speech. Suffixed nouns with the meaning “person” formed by productive word-formation models of quality adjectives served as language material. The study was performed on the basis of the derivatives obtained by the linguistic experiment with Russian native speakers. We also controlled the frequency of use of these words in the speech, which was obtained with the help of Google search engine. As a result of the research we have identified several patterns. Firstly, the data about the functioning of such words obtained in different experimental conditions correlated. Secondly, the nouns with the meaning of “person” significantly exceed the lexical norm for the diversity of their use in speech (in quantitative and qualitative indicators), which was reflected in codified dictionaries.