The intended sense may be identified by context, customary usage, another scriptural text, an express explanation, or an evidentially preferred interpretation. These indicators do not all have equal force.
In ordinary speech, a commercial context makes “buyer” natural. Where alternative meanings support different legal rulings, a jurist must assess further evidence rather than appeal to preference alone.
When the speaker explicitly defines the sense, that clarification has a different evidential status from a merely probable inference.
This prepares the distinction between muʾawwal (interpretatively preferred) and mufassar (explicitly explained).