Meaning & use
pull tabs
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“pull tabs” is a form of “pull tab”.
Meanings
nounplural
Small metal or plastic strips on cans and packages that you lift or pull to open them.
Grammar: Plural of pull tab: Pull tabs are on many soda cans.
Patterns
- pull tabs on something
Charities sometimes collect aluminum pull tabs from soda cans.
The pull tabs on the cans were hard to lift with wet hands.
She tore off the pull tabs before recycling the lids.
nounpluralAmerican
Paper tickets with hidden symbols behind folded tabs, sold for small prizes at bars and charity events.
Grammar: Plural form, often used with play or sell.
Patterns
- play pull tabs
- sell pull tabs
The club raises money by selling pull tabs at its Friday night event.
He bought five pull tabs and won a small prize.
Word forms
| singular | pull tab |
|---|
Common combinations
- aluminum pull tabs
- The school collected aluminum pull tabs for charity.
- open the pull tabs
- Open the pull tabs by lifting the rings.
- sell pull tabs
- The bar sells pull tabs to raise money.
- play pull tabs
- They play pull tabs every Friday.
- snap off the pull tabs
- Do not snap off the pull tabs; recycle them with the can.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ring pulls
- Ring pulls is the British term for the ring-shaped opener on cans.
- tabs
- Tabs is shorter and can refer to many kinds of strip or flap, so context is needed.
- scratch cards
- Scratch cards are lottery tickets you scrape, not tickets you open by pulling a tab.
Word family
Commonly confused: pull tabs or pull-top?
pull tabs vs pull-top
A pull-top is the whole can lid with a tab, while the pull tab is the part you lift.
Practice
The aluminum ____ on soda cans can be collected and recycled for charity.
Choose one answer.
Pull tabs are the strips you lift to open the can. The other options are real objects but are not found on soda cans.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pull tabs”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.