Meaning & use
puddle
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small shallow area of liquid lying on the ground, usually rainwater.
Grammar: Countable: a puddle, two puddles; you can also say 'a puddle of water'.
Patterns
- a puddle of something
- step in a puddle
- puddles form
After the storm, children jumped in the puddles on the sidewalk.
There was a small puddle of milk under the fridge.
Puddles had formed along the edge of the road.
nouncountable
A small amount of liquid that has spilled or collected on a surface.
Grammar: Often followed by 'of' plus the liquid: a puddle of oil, a puddle of paint.
Patterns
- a puddle of oil
- a puddle of blood
A puddle of oil had spread across the garage floor.
He wiped up a puddle of juice with a cloth.
verbintransitiveliterary
To make a small pool of liquid on the ground, or to move about in shallow water.
Grammar: Usually intransitive and rather literary; often used of rain or melted snow collecting.
Patterns
- water puddles on something
Rain puddled in the hollows of the old stone path.
Melted snow puddled at the foot of the steps.
Word forms
| plural | puddles |
|---|---|
| third person singular | puddles |
| past tense | puddled |
| past participle | puddled |
| -ing form | puddling |
Common combinations
- a puddle of water
- A puddle of water had gathered by the door.
- step in a puddle
- Be careful not to step in that puddle.
- jump in puddles
- The kids love jumping in puddles after rain.
- puddles form
- Puddles form quickly when the drains are blocked.
- splash through a puddle
- The car splashed through a puddle and soaked my shoes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pool
- A pool can be much bigger and more permanent, like a swimming pool; a puddle is always small and temporary.
- splash
- A splash is the disturbed water or the act of hitting it, not the still shallow pool itself.
Opposites
Word family
- puddly adjective
- Full of or covered with puddles, as in a puddly road.
- puddling noun
- The process of lining a pond or canal with clay to hold water.
Commonly confused: puddle or poodle?
puddle vs poodle
A poodle is a breed of dog; a puddle is a small pool of water. They sound similar but mean very different things.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
A puddle is small and shallow, so rain collecting by a gate fits. Swimming across one (option 0) or sailing boats on it (option 2) suggests something far too large, and drinking 'a puddle' of tea treats the word as if it meant a cupful (option 3).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “puddle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.