diff --git a/internal/overlap/resolve.go b/internal/overlap/resolve.go
index db680ed..a59419d 100644
--- a/internal/overlap/resolve.go
+++ b/internal/overlap/resolve.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ func Resolve(in model.MergedTranscript, wordRunGap float64, wordRunReorderWindow
 			overlapRefs[ref] = struct{}{}
 		}
 	}
+	claimedContextRefs := make(map[string]struct{})
 
 	removeRefs := make(map[string]struct{})
 	clearAnnotationRefs := make(map[string]struct{})
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ func Resolve(in model.MergedTranscript, wordRunGap float64, wordRunReorderWindow
 	replacementOrder := make(map[string]replacementOrder)
 
 	for _, group := range in.OverlapGroups {
-		resolved, err := resolveGroup(in, group, refToIndex, overlapRefs, wordRunGap, wordRunReorderWindow, contextWindow)
+		resolved, err := resolveGroup(in, group, refToIndex, overlapRefs, claimedContextRefs, wordRunGap, wordRunReorderWindow, contextWindow)
 		if err != nil {
 			return model.MergedTranscript{}, ResolutionSummary{}, err
 		}
@@ -58,6 +59,9 @@ func Resolve(in model.MergedTranscript, wordRunGap float64, wordRunReorderWindow
 		for sourceRef, order := range resolved.replacementOrder {
 			replacementOrder[sourceRef] = order
 		}
+		for _, ref := range resolved.contextRefs {
+			claimedContextRefs[ref] = struct{}{}
+		}
 
 		for _, ref := range group.Segments {
 			clearAnnotationRefs[ref] = struct{}{}
@@ -107,6 +111,7 @@ func Resolve(in model.MergedTranscript, wordRunGap float64, wordRunReorderWindow
 
 type resolvedGroup struct {
 	removeRefs       []string
+	contextRefs      []string
 	replacements     []model.Segment
 	replacementOrder map[string]replacementOrder
 }
@@ -131,9 +136,10 @@ type wordRun struct {
 	end          float64
 }
 
-func resolveGroup(in model.MergedTranscript, group model.OverlapGroup, refToIndex map[string]int, overlapRefs map[string]struct{}, wordRunGap float64, wordRunReorderWindow float64, contextWindow float64) (resolvedGroup, error) {
+func resolveGroup(in model.MergedTranscript, group model.OverlapGroup, refToIndex map[string]int, overlapRefs map[string]struct{}, claimedContextRefs map[string]struct{}, wordRunGap float64, wordRunReorderWindow float64, contextWindow float64) (resolvedGroup, error) {
 	segmentsBySpeaker := make(map[string][]model.Segment)
 	refsBySpeaker := make(map[string][]string)
+	contextRefs := make([]string, 0)
 	groupRefs := make(map[string]struct{}, len(group.Segments))
 	groupSpeakers := make(map[string]struct{})
 	for _, ref := range group.Segments {
@@ -154,6 +160,9 @@ func resolveGroup(in model.MergedTranscript, group model.OverlapGroup, refToInde
 			if _, exists := overlapRefs[ref]; exists {
 				continue
 			}
+			if _, exists := claimedContextRefs[ref]; exists {
+				continue
+			}
 			if _, exists := groupSpeakers[segment.Speaker]; !exists {
 				continue
 			}
@@ -166,6 +175,9 @@ func resolveGroup(in model.MergedTranscript, group model.OverlapGroup, refToInde
 		}
 		segmentsBySpeaker[segment.Speaker] = append(segmentsBySpeaker[segment.Speaker], segment)
 		refsBySpeaker[segment.Speaker] = append(refsBySpeaker[segment.Speaker], ref)
+		if _, exists := groupRefs[ref]; !exists {
+			contextRefs = append(contextRefs, ref)
+		}
 	}
 
 	speakers := groupSpeakerOrder(group, segmentsBySpeaker)
@@ -187,6 +199,7 @@ func resolveGroup(in model.MergedTranscript, group model.OverlapGroup, refToInde
 			resolved.replacements = append(resolved.replacements, replacementSegment(group.ID, speakerIndex+1, runIndex+1, speaker, run))
 		}
 	}
+	resolved.contextRefs = uniqueStrings(contextRefs)
 
 	resolved.replacements, resolved.replacementOrder = reorderReplacementSegments(group.ID, resolved.replacements, wordRunReorderWindow)
 	return resolved, nil
@@ -466,3 +479,16 @@ func uniqueSortedStrings(values []string) []string {
 	sort.Strings(unique)
 	return unique
 }
+
+func uniqueStrings(values []string) []string {
+	seen := make(map[string]struct{}, len(values))
+	unique := make([]string, 0, len(values))
+	for _, value := range values {
+		if _, exists := seen[value]; exists {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[value] = struct{}{}
+		unique = append(unique, value)
+	}
+	return unique
+}
diff --git a/internal/overlap/resolve_test.go b/internal/overlap/resolve_test.go
index 9d1922b..050f729 100644
--- a/internal/overlap/resolve_test.go
+++ b/internal/overlap/resolve_test.go
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ func TestResolveSkipsContextSegmentReferencedByAnotherOverlapGroup(t *testing.T)
 		"c.json#0": {},
 	}
 
-	resolved, err := resolveGroup(merged, merged.OverlapGroups[0], refToIndex, overlapRefs, 10, 0.4, 3)
+	resolved, err := resolveGroup(merged, merged.OverlapGroups[0], refToIndex, overlapRefs, map[string]struct{}{}, 10, 0.4, 3)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("resolve failed: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -597,6 +597,37 @@ func TestResolveDoesNotReorderWordRunsOutsideWindow(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestResolveDoesNotReuseContextSegmentAcrossGroups(t *testing.T) {
+	merged := model.MergedTranscript{
+		Segments: []model.Segment{
+			segmentWithWords("a.json", 0, "Alice", 1.0, 1.1, word("alpha", 1.0, 1.05)),
+			segmentWithWords("b.json", 0, "Bob", 1.05, 1.15, word("beta", 1.05, 1.1)),
+			segmentWithWords("a.json", 1, "Alice", 2.0, 2.1, word("shared", 2.0, 2.05)),
+			segmentWithWords("c.json", 0, "Carol", 4.0, 4.1, word("gamma", 4.0, 4.05)),
+			segmentWithWords("a.json", 2, "Alice", 4.2, 4.3, word("delta", 4.2, 4.25)),
+		},
+		OverlapGroups: []model.OverlapGroup{
+			group(1, 1.0, 1.15, []string{"a.json#0", "b.json#0"}, []string{"Alice", "Bob"}),
+			group(2, 4.0, 4.3, []string{"c.json#0", "a.json#2"}, []string{"Carol", "Alice"}),
+		},
+	}
+
+	got, _, err := Resolve(merged, 0.75, 0.4, 3)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("resolve failed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	sharedCount := 0
+	for _, segment := range got.Segments {
+		if segment.Text == "shared" {
+			sharedCount++
+		}
+	}
+	if sharedCount != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("shared context segment was reused %d time(s); want 1", sharedCount)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestResolveReordersTransitiveNearStartClustersByDuration(t *testing.T) {
 	merged := model.MergedTranscript{
 		Segments: []model.Segment{