It's plausible- try it and see everybody has methods that are suitable for them or not. If it works for you that's good, if it doesn't you have lost nothing.
The only problem is you will have to be at a slightly advanced level to be able to make a guess at an alternative word without a dictionary. It might also lead you reading texts that are badly written.
Stick to newspapers and authoritative and well known authors, avoid street slang to begin with, you can absorb this at a later time.