The use of context clues in reading refers to using the context in which a word appears to try to determine the meaning of it when you do not know the word or are not sure about it. Although this is one of the most common methods use to know unfamiliar words, the author of the text needs to provide enough information about the meaning of the unknown word such as defining it with other words, providing an antonym/synonym, giving an example, etc. which in some cases does not happen and without enough information or context clues you will have to use the dictionary or other methods. This implies context clues do not always replace using the dictionary as in some cases there are not enough context clues to understand a word and therefore you should use the dictionary.
