It’s the same Greek word.

Often one says of the meaning behind certain Greek language words that have been translated into English, “It’s the same Greek word.” By this they state or imply that the words in those places must mean the same thing and therefore the word must also be translated by the same English (it should be  the same English word in all places). Such assertion assumes that the particular Greek word (whichever one is under discussion) does not have any range of meaning but always means only one thing. 

However, most words have some range of meaning, and some range so far as to mean opposite things. For example, consider the range of meaning of the English word “cleave.” So, for example, if we translate “cleave” into Spanish, we might translate it as adherirse or dividirse (considering the context of the English).

If someone did what we are talking about, they could say adherirse and dividirse both mean the same thing, since they are both translated from the word cleave. Nevertheless, they do not mean the same thing. Admittedly this may be an extreme example, but I think the extreme helps make the general point. 

I hope this musing out loud makes sense. This is an issue some raise when a Bible translates the same Greek or Hebrew word in more than one way.