Coming from Common Lisp multiple value return is usually used when there are some non essential values to return in addition to a primary value. Unless you spec

Coming from Common Lisp multiple value return is usually used when there are some non essential values to return in addition to a primary value. Unless you specifically bind those non essential values are discarded. (defun foo () (values 1 :quux)) (+ (foo) (foo)) => 2 (multiple-value-bind (x y) (foo) (print y)) => :foo If you are returning an explicit aggregation like an array then it's not true multiple value return in my opinion.