diff --git a/R/liana_tensor.R b/R/liana_tensor.R
index 285a8c5..6f8b9fa 100644
--- a/R/liana_tensor.R
+++ b/R/liana_tensor.R
@@ -322,7 +322,8 @@ get_c2c_factors <- function(sce, group_col=NULL, sample_col){
     factors$contexts <- .join_meta(sce,
                                    factors$contexts,
                                    sample_col = sample_col,
-                                   group_col = group_col)
+                                   group_col = group_col,
+                                   .left_col="context")
     return(factors)
 
 }
diff --git a/R/liana_utils.R b/R/liana_utils.R
index 9b9bb9b..5154b26 100644
--- a/R/liana_utils.R
+++ b/R/liana_utils.R
@@ -67,12 +67,18 @@ liana_bysample <- function(sce,
 
 #' Join sample descriptor column from SCE to another table
 #' @param sce SingleCellExperiment
-#' @param right (df) to join to colData per sample
+#' @param left (df) to join to colData per sample
 #' @param sample_col unique identifier column from colData
 #' @param group_col sample_col descriptor column
+#' @param .left_col The columns by which we map `sample_col` if NULL, its set to
+#' the same as `sample_col`.
 #'
 #' @noRd
-.join_meta <- function(sce, right, sample_col, group_col){
+.join_meta <- function(sce, left, sample_col, group_col, .left_col=NULL){
+
+    if(is.null(.left_col)){
+        .left_col <- sample_col
+    }
 
     meta <- colData(sce) %>%
         as_tibble() %>%
@@ -80,7 +86,10 @@ liana_bysample <- function(sce,
         distinct() %>%
         mutate( {{ group_col }} := as.factor(.data[[group_col]]))
 
-    left_join(right, meta, by=sample_col)
+    by <- sample_col
+    names(by) <- .left_col
+
+    left_join(left, meta, by=by)
 }