Final answer:
The answer is 'D. trees' because trees and context clues both have diverse appearances and characteristics, which can help understand or infer meanings similarly to how context clues in text help infer the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer is D. trees because just like context clues, trees can look very different from one another. Trees are diverse in their species, shapes, sizes, and the colors of their leaves, much like how context clues can vary in their form. Context clues can be synonyms, antonyms, explanations, examples or any other information that helps infer the meaning of a word or phrase. For example, in the phrase 'The arboreal creature, such as a squirrel...', the word 'arboreal' might be unfamiliar, but the mention of a squirrel, which is known to live in trees, provides a clue that 'arboreal' relates to trees.