We reintroduce a wide-angle view of reading comprehension, the Reading Systems Framework, which places word knowledge in the center of the picture, taking into account the progress made in comprehension research and theory. Within this framework, word-to-text integration processes can serve as a model for the study of local comprehension processes, that is, those that make sense out of short stretches of text. These processes require linkage between the word identification system and the comprehension system, with the lexicon in the linking role. Studies of these processes examine the influence of one sentence on the reading of a single word in a second sentence, which enables the integration of the word meaning into the reader's mental model of the text. Skilled comprehenders, more than less skilled, show immediate use of word meanings in the integration process. Other evidence is also consistent with the assumption that word meaning processes are causal components in comprehension skill.