Meaning & use
a puddle
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small pool of liquid lying on the ground, usually water left behind after rain.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a puddle, two puddles, or the puddles on the road.
Patterns
- a puddle of water
- step in a puddle
- puddles on the ground
After the storm, a puddle formed at the bottom of our driveway.
She jumped right into a puddle and soaked her new shoes.
There was a puddle of milk on the kitchen floor where the glass fell.
nouncountable
A small amount of any liquid spilled or collected on a surface.
Grammar: Often followed by 'of' plus the liquid: a puddle of oil.
Patterns
- a puddle of something
- leave a puddle
- wipe up a puddle
A puddle of melted ice cream was spreading across the table.
He wiped up a puddle of coffee before it reached the papers.
nouncountableinformal
A shallow, muddy area that holds water, especially one that is hard to cross.
Grammar: Usually plural in this sense: the puddles in the lane.
Patterns
- muddy puddles
- drive through a puddle
- avoid the puddles
The path was full of muddy puddles after days of rain.
We drove slowly through the puddles to keep the engine dry.
Word forms
| plural | puddles |
|---|
Common combinations
- a puddle of water
- A puddle of water had gathered under the leaking pipe.
- step in a puddle
- Be careful not to step in a puddle on your way in.
- muddy puddle
- The children came home covered in mud after playing in a muddy puddle.
- puddles on the road
- Puddles on the road made the drive home slow.
- splash through a puddle
- The bus splashed through a puddle and soaked the people at the stop.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pool
- A pool is usually larger and deeper than a puddle and may be permanent, while a puddle is small and shallow.
- puddle
- This is the noun without the article; 'a puddle' simply adds the indefinite article for one unspecified puddle.
- pond
- A pond is a real body of water, often with plants and fish, much bigger than a puddle.
Word family
- puddly adjective
- Full of or like puddles, as in a puddly road.
- puddle verb
- To make or become muddy with puddles, or to stir molten metal.
Commonly confused: a puddle or poodle?
a puddle vs poodle
A poodle is a breed of dog. A puddle is water on the ground; the two words sound similar but mean very different things.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'a puddle' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A puddle' is water lying on the ground, so playing in one after rain fits. The other options use it with actions that do not suit a pool of water on the ground.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a puddle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.