Verbs "ser" & "ir" in the Pretérito form-why are they the same?

Question

I was wondering under the preterito form why the ser verb and ir verb were the same in that form? How do I inform a reader that it means ir verb vs. the ser verb if I use the pretrito form. Wouldn't that be confusing if someone was trying to figure out whether they were to go vs. to be or is that preterito verb fui and so on... accompany the verb ir or ser to indicate that is the verb they mean? Just making sure.

Thanks

Answer 1

Well, how do you distinguish the present and past tenses of "read" in written material? -- by the context!

Answer 2

Yes, it's the context.
There is no confusion between

Fue a la tienda.
and
Fue una cosa horrible.

Answer 3

Just the contex could clarify what it's the verb in question.

If the context refers to a place, we can think in the Verb "ir".
If the context refers to an adjective, we can assume is the verb "ser".