Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. Pre-discrete Fourier transform (DFT) time-domain spreading codes may be applied for UE multiplexing for uplink control information (e.g., over shared resources of an uplink slot). For example, a moderate number of UEs may be multiplexed within the same slot by having each UE spread modulation symbols before DFT-spreading by different spreading code. For orthogonality across UEs, the pre-DFT spreading codes may be selected as orthogonal cover codes (OCCs). The spreading sequences can be generated from a set of any orthogonal sequences or generated from unitary matrices. In some cases, orthogonality in the time domain may be kept as well as a frequency division multiplexed (FDM) structure in the frequency domain. For such property, a Fourier basis OCC design may be used. In some other examples, a Hadamard matrix based OCC design may be used.