Answer:
- <u>Peak</u> is the word that best accomplishes the sentence.
- '<u>Climbing for hours</u>' is the context clue that supports the above answer.
Explanation:
In the given sentence, the most appropriate word to complete the sentence would be 'peak' as it appropriately goes with the context. The word 'peak' <u>implies 'end or top of anything' which is contextually relevant</u> to the meaning of the sentence implying that 'the hikers finally reached the top(of the mountain) after hours of arduous efforts in climbing it<u>'</u>. Thus, the other two words become insignificant(contextually).
<u>Context clues are described as the hints or clues that are provided by the author in order to assist the readers to determine the meaning of an unusual word</u>. These clues usually involve synonyms, antonyms, explanation, etc. Thus, the phrase 'climbing for hours' functions as the explanatory context clue that defines the hikers approach to reach at the top i.e. 'peak'.
