diff --git a/src/sssom/io.py b/src/sssom/io.py
index 28f9eaf8..27a49238 100644
--- a/src/sssom/io.py
+++ b/src/sssom/io.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def parse_file(
     mapping_predicates = None
     # Get list of predicates of interest.
     if mapping_predicate_filter:
-        mapping_predicates = get_list_of_predicate_iri(mapping_predicate_filter, converter)
+        mapping_predicates = extract_iris(mapping_predicate_filter, converter)
 
     # if mapping_predicates:
     doc = parse_func(
@@ -161,39 +161,29 @@ def _merge_converter(converter: Converter, prefix_map_mode: str = None) -> Conve
     raise ValueError(f"Invalid prefix map mode: {prefix_map_mode}")
 
 
-def get_list_of_predicate_iri(predicate_filter: Iterable[str], converter: Converter) -> list:
-    """Return a list of IRIs for predicate CURIEs passed.
-
-    :param predicate_filter: CURIE OR list of CURIEs OR file path containing the same.
-    :param converter: Prefix map of mapping set (possibly) containing custom prefix:IRI combination.
-    :return: A list of IRIs.
-    """
-    return sorted(set(chain.from_iterable(extract_iri(p, converter) for p in predicate_filter)))
-
-
-def extract_iri(input: str, converter: Converter) -> List[str]:
+def extract_iris(
+    input: Union[str, Path, Iterable[Union[str, Path]]], converter: Converter
+) -> List[str]:
     """
     Recursively extracts a list of IRIs from a string or file.
 
     :param input: CURIE OR list of CURIEs OR file path containing the same.
     :param converter: Prefix map of mapping set (possibly) containing custom prefix:IRI combination.
     :return: A list of IRIs.
-    :rtype: list
     """
+    if isinstance(input, (str, Path)) and os.path.isfile(input):
+        pred_list = Path(input).read_text().splitlines()
+        return sorted(set(chain.from_iterable(extract_iris(p, converter) for p in pred_list)))
+    if isinstance(input, list):
+        return sorted(set(chain.from_iterable(extract_iris(p, converter) for p in input)))
     if converter.is_uri(input):
         return [converter.standardize_uri(input, strict=True)]
-    elif converter.is_curie(input):
+    if converter.is_curie(input):
         return [converter.expand(input, strict=True)]
-
-    elif os.path.isfile(input):
-        pred_list = Path(input).read_text().splitlines()
-        return sorted(set(chain.from_iterable(extract_iri(p, converter) for p in pred_list)))
-
-    else:
-        logging.warning(
-            f"{input} is neither a local file path nor a valid CURIE or URI w.r.t. the given converter. "
-            f"skipped from processing."
-        )
+    logging.warning(
+        f"{input} is neither a local file path nor a valid CURIE or URI w.r.t. the given converter. "
+        f"skipped from processing."
+    )
     return []
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 86b3b39c..4e414d0a 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 from sssom.constants import OBJECT_ID, SUBJECT_ID
 from sssom.context import SSSOM_BUILT_IN_PREFIXES, ensure_converter
-from sssom.io import get_list_of_predicate_iri
+from sssom.io import extract_iris
 from sssom.parsers import parse_sssom_table
 from sssom.util import (
     MappingSetDataFrame,
@@ -33,10 +33,10 @@ def setUp(self) -> None:
 
     def test_broken_predicate_list(self):
         """Test merging of multiple msdfs."""
-        predicate_filter = ["skos:relatedMatch", f"{data_dir}/predicate_list3.txt"]
+        predicate_filter = ["skos:relatedMatch", [f"{data_dir}/predicate_list3.txt"]]
         prefix_map = {"skos": "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"}
         converter = Converter.from_prefix_map(prefix_map)
-        iri_list = get_list_of_predicate_iri(converter=converter, predicate_filter=predicate_filter)
+        iri_list = extract_iris(predicate_filter, converter=converter)
         self.assertEqual(
             [
                 "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#narrowMatch",