This paper investigates the place of conversive words in the system of parts of speech in Evenki, and makes their grammatical nature clear. ‘Conversion’ is distinguished from homonymy, transposition, substan- tivization and syncretism. It is noticed that the conversive meaning of word-formation kept its value in Evenki until recently. We discuss the groups of conversive words, which have from two to four intrinsic categorical meanings. It is also pointed out that on the level of speech, the syncretical conversive word of the level of language be realized as only one of its intrinsic categorical meanings, which determine the lexical meaning, the specific-grammatical categories and the syntactic functions of this conversive word in the aspect of its formation. The syncretism of conversive words on the level of language should be considered as the independent and productive method of the word- formation of lexical units.