Visible homonyms are ambiguous, subliminal homonyms are not: A close look at priming

► We investigated selection of meanings of polar homonyms in a neutral context. ► Priming by masked and visible homonyms was measured at prime-target SOAs of 100-1500 ms. ► With visible homonyms, there was positive priming of two meanings at short SOAs. ► With masked homonyms, there was negative priming for the rare and positive priming for the frequent meaning across SOAs. ► No parallel activation but selective access of word meaning when the word is masked.