The paper is an examination of the role of linguistic context with regard to modulating the influences of individual differences in fluid and crystallized intelligence on comprehension of literary metaphors. The following three conditions were compared: no context, metaphor-congruent context and literal-congruent context. Compared to the no-context condition, the metaphor-congruent context facilitated comprehension of metaphorical meaning, and, on the other hand, the literal-congruent context undermined it. Measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence contributed separably to predicting metaphor understanding. The metaphor-congruent context selectively increased the contribution of crystalized verbal intelligence. The results confirm the hypothesis that a supportive linguistic context encourages use of semantic integration in interpreting metaphors.