bunkhouse

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A simple building with bunk beds where workers, or travellers on a budget, sleep.

   Grammar: Has a regular plural: the ranch has two bunkhouses.

   Patterns

   • sleep in a bunkhouse
   • stay at a bunkhouse

   The ranch hands slept in a long bunkhouse behind the barn.

   We stayed in a mountain bunkhouse during the hike.

   The bunkhouse had twelve beds and a wood stove.

2. 2nouncountableBritish

   A cheap hostel-style place to stay, often in the countryside, popular with walkers and cyclists.

   Grammar: Often a name for a business: book a bunkhouse for the group.

   Patterns

   • book a bunkhouse
   • a bunkhouse for something

   Our walking group booked a bunkhouse near the lake.

   The bunkhouse costs less than a hotel and has a shared kitchen.

Word forms

Common combinations

ranch bunkhouse

The cowboys ate breakfast at the ranch bunkhouse.

stay in a bunkhouse

We stayed in a bunkhouse for two nights.

mountain bunkhouse

The mountain bunkhouse was cold but cheap.

book a bunkhouse

They booked a bunkhouse for the whole group.

Synonyms and how they differ

dormitory

A dormitory is a large shared bedroom or building, often at a school, and sounds more institutional than bunkhouse.

hostel

A hostel is a budget place with shared rooms for travellers, while a bunkhouse is simpler and often rural.

barracks

Barracks are military buildings for soldiers and are more strict and formal.

cabin

A cabin is a small wooden house for one family or group, not necessarily with many bunk beds.

Word family

bunk noun

a narrow bed, often one above another

bunk bed noun

two beds stacked one above the other

bunk verb

to sleep in a bunk or a borrowed bed

Commonly confused: bunkhouse or bunk house?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “bunkhouse”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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