What is multi-label classification in supervised learning?

Updated May 17, 2026

Short answer

Multi-label classification allows each instance to belong to multiple classes simultaneously.

Deep explanation

Unlike multi-class classification where each instance belongs to exactly one class, multi-label classification assigns multiple labels to a single instance. Each label is treated independently or modeled jointly. Common approaches include Binary Relevance, Classifier Chains, and deep learning sigmoid outputs. It is widely used in text tagging and image annotation tasks.

Real-world example

A news article tagged as both 'politics' and 'economy'.

Common mistakes

  • Using softmax instead of sigmoid for multi-label outputs.

Follow-up questions

  • Why is sigmoid used in multi-label classification?
  • What is classifier chains?

More Supervised Learning interview questions

View all →