Topic 3: Multi-Query Strategies
5 min read·21 Sept 2026
Intuition: instead of asking one question and hoping it was phrased well, ask several versions, or several smaller questions, and combine what comes back.
| Strategy | What it generates | Best for | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-query | Several rephrasings | Wording mismatch, vague queries | 1 LLM call + N searches |
| Decomposition | Sub-questions | Compound and multi-hop questions | 1 LLM call + one search per part |
| Step-back | A broader question | Questions needing background or the governing policy | 1 LLM call + 2 searches |
| HyDE | A hypothetical answer | Short questions vs long documents; unusual phrasing | 1 LLM call (longer output) + dense search |