Hello, Nesting \placesidebyside inside \startcombination\stopcombination appears to throw-off the spacing. Alan %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Minimal example: % (left pair is misplaced) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \setupcombinations [distance=0cm] \starttext \framed [width=8cm] {% \startcombination [2] {\placesidebyside {\framed [width=2cm,height=3cm, background=color,backgroundcolor=red] {}} {\framed [width=2cm,height=3cm, background=color,backgroundcolor=green] {}} } {(a)} {\placesidebyside {\framed [width=2cm,height=3cm, background=color,backgroundcolor=blue] {}} {\framed [width=2cm,height=3cm, background=color,backgroundcolor=yellow] {}} } {(b)} \stopcombination } \stoptext