diff --git a/includes/common.inc b/includes/common.inc
index 861bdf938c37aa4660d6212dfb1b646e3cbcdf7b..ce0efcf4f180d0ccd0b7b97365722dc12267bd23 100644
--- a/includes/common.inc
+++ b/includes/common.inc
@@ -7271,18 +7271,24 @@ function entity_create_stub_entity($entity_type, $ids) {
  * @see hook_entity_info()
  * @see DrupalEntityControllerInterface
  * @see DrupalDefaultEntityController
+ * @see EntityFieldQuery
  *
  * @param $entity_type
  *   The entity type to load, e.g. node or user.
  * @param $ids
  *   An array of entity IDs, or FALSE to load all entities.
  * @param $conditions
- *   An array of conditions in the form 'field' => $value.
+ *   (deprecated) An associative array of conditions on the base table, where
+ *   the keys are the database fields and the values are the values those
+ *   fields must have. Instead, it is preferable to use EntityFieldQuery to
+ *   retrieve a list of entity IDs loadable by this function.
  * @param $reset
  *   Whether to reset the internal cache for the requested entity type.
  *
  * @return
  *   An array of entity objects indexed by their ids.
+ *
+ * @todo Remove $conditions in Drupal 8.
  */
 function entity_load($entity_type, $ids = FALSE, $conditions = array(), $reset = FALSE) {
   if ($reset) {
diff --git a/includes/file.inc b/includes/file.inc
index a685bdf3208756dde0307ecb04a32f1e275918a9..742c20e72fba5cfa76fc3614fca7465028617a65 100644
--- a/includes/file.inc
+++ b/includes/file.inc
@@ -519,15 +519,21 @@ function file_create_htaccess($directory, $private = TRUE) {
  * @param $fids
  *   An array of file IDs.
  * @param $conditions
- *   An array of conditions to match against the {file_managed} table.
- *   These should be supplied in the form array('field_name' =>
- *   'field_value').
+ *   (deprecated) An associative array of conditions on the {file_managed}
+ *   table, where the keys are the database fields and the values are the
+ *   values those fields must have. Instead, it is preferable to use
+ *   EntityFieldQuery to retrieve a list of entity IDs loadable by
+ *   this function.
  *
  * @return
  *   An array of file objects, indexed by fid.
  *
  * @see hook_file_load()
  * @see file_load()
+ * @see entity_load()
+ * @see EntityFieldQuery
+ *
+ * @todo Remove $conditions in Drupal 8.
  */
 function file_load_multiple($fids = array(), $conditions = array()) {
   return entity_load('file', $fids, $conditions);
diff --git a/modules/comment/comment.module b/modules/comment/comment.module
index 2e9b86ade55330d1f8e0923bee6f6ce46c99e4a4..f5d9f0f5e36066efb2dbd323a8e300b77e3d6906 100644
--- a/modules/comment/comment.module
+++ b/modules/comment/comment.module
@@ -1623,10 +1623,19 @@ function comment_delete_multiple($cids) {
  * @param $cids
  *   An array of comment IDs.
  * @param $conditions
- *   An array of conditions to match against the {comments} table. These
- *   should be supplied in the form array('field_name' => 'field_value').
+ *   (deprecated) An associative array of conditions on the {comments}
+ *   table, where the keys are the database fields and the values are the
+ *   values those fields must have. Instead, it is preferable to use
+ *   EntityFieldQuery to retrieve a list of entity IDs loadable by
+ *   this function.
+ *
  * @return
- *  An array of comment objects, indexed by comment ID.
+ *   An array of comment objects, indexed by comment ID.
+ *
+ * @see entity_load()
+ * @see EntityFieldQuery
+ *
+ * @todo Remove $conditions in Drupal 8.
  */
 function comment_load_multiple($cids = array(), $conditions = array()) {
   return entity_load('comment', $cids, $conditions);
diff --git a/modules/node/node.module b/modules/node/node.module
index 154119d6ab51832cdd900c8b4325128313700e31..22946da2efd386306a226ecea48745d895199feb 100644
--- a/modules/node/node.module
+++ b/modules/node/node.module
@@ -875,16 +875,23 @@ function node_invoke($node, $hook, $a2 = NULL, $a3 = NULL, $a4 = NULL) {
  * database access if loaded again during the same page request.
  *
  * @see entity_load()
+ * @see EntityFieldQuery
  *
  * @param $nids
  *   An array of node IDs.
  * @param $conditions
- *   An array of conditions on the {node} table in the form 'field' => $value.
+ *   (deprecated) An associative array of conditions on the {node}
+ *   table, where the keys are the database fields and the values are the
+ *   values those fields must have. Instead, it is preferable to use
+ *   EntityFieldQuery to retrieve a list of entity IDs loadable by
+ *   this function.
  * @param $reset
  *   Whether to reset the internal node_load cache.
  *
  * @return
  *   An array of node objects indexed by nid.
+ *
+ * @todo Remove $conditions in Drupal 8.
  */
 function node_load_multiple($nids = array(), $conditions = array(), $reset = FALSE) {
   return entity_load('node', $nids, $conditions, $reset);
diff --git a/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module b/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
index edfa7d42f8ad110068a524f9ad49fafd56656213..e2e99a9837e5d933263e4c331fad14e44279cd4a 100644
--- a/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
+++ b/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
@@ -1064,14 +1064,21 @@ protected function buildQuery($ids, $conditions = array(), $revision_id = FALSE)
  * database access if loaded again during the same page request.
  *
  * @see entity_load()
+ * @see EntityFieldQuery
  *
  * @param $tids
- *  An array of taxonomy term IDs.
+ *   An array of taxonomy term IDs.
  * @param $conditions
- *  An array of conditions to add to the query.
+ *   (deprecated) An associative array of conditions on the {taxonomy_term}
+ *   table, where the keys are the database fields and the values are the
+ *   values those fields must have. Instead, it is preferable to use
+ *   EntityFieldQuery to retrieve a list of entity IDs loadable by
+ *   this function.
  *
  * @return
- *  An array of term objects, indexed by tid.
+ *   An array of term objects, indexed by tid.
+ *
+ * @todo Remove $conditions in Drupal 8.
  */
 function taxonomy_term_load_multiple($tids = array(), $conditions = array()) {
   return entity_load('taxonomy_term', $tids, $conditions);
diff --git a/modules/user/user.module b/modules/user/user.module
index 8592e0155b39236be4db2a541d837e119bbae32f..7547f3f98a2eb9750ef24c1905b54e6e41b9e58a 100644
--- a/modules/user/user.module
+++ b/modules/user/user.module
@@ -235,11 +235,15 @@ function user_external_load($authname) {
  * @param $uids
  *   An array of user IDs.
  * @param $conditions
- *   An array of conditions to match against the {users} table. These
- *   should be supplied in the form array('field_name' => 'field_value').
+ *   (deprecated) An associative array of conditions on the {users}
+ *   table, where the keys are the database fields and the values are the
+ *   values those fields must have. Instead, it is preferable to use
+ *   EntityFieldQuery to retrieve a list of entity IDs loadable by
+ *   this function.
  * @param $reset
  *   A boolean indicating that the internal cache should be reset. Use this if
  *   loading a user object which has been altered during the page request.
+ *
  * @return
  *   An array of user objects, indexed by uid.
  *
@@ -247,6 +251,9 @@ function user_external_load($authname) {
  * @see user_load()
  * @see user_load_by_mail()
  * @see user_load_by_name()
+ * @see EntityFieldQuery
+ *
+ * @todo Remove $conditions in Drupal 8.
  */
 function user_load_multiple($uids = array(), $conditions = array(), $reset = FALSE) {
   return entity_load('user', $uids, $conditions, $reset);