home

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountable

   The place where someone lives, especially with their family, and where they feel settled and at ease.

   Grammar: Countable for a particular dwelling (a new home); uncountable in phrases like at home and leave home.

   Patterns

   • leave home
   • at home
   • make a home somewhere

   After years of renting, they finally bought a home of their own.

   She misses home when she travels for work.

   The smell of fresh bread always reminds him of home.

2. 2adverbnot comparable

   To or at the place where one lives.

   Grammar: Needs no preposition: go home, not go to home.

   Patterns

   • go home
   • come home
   • get home

   I'll head home as soon as the meeting ends.

   He walked home in the rain.

   Is anyone home yet?

3. 3nouncountable

   An institution where people are cared for, such as a residence for the elderly or for children without parents.

   Grammar: Usually has a word before it saying what kind: nursing home, children's home.

   Patterns

   • a home for someone

   Her grandmother moved into a care home near the coast.

   The charity runs a home for stray dogs.

   He grew up in a children's home.

4. 4adjectivebefore a noun

   Belonging to one's own house, country or team rather than to a visitor or rival.

   Grammar: Appears before a noun: the home team, home cooking.

   Patterns

   • home team
   • home match

   The home crowd cheered every goal.

   We play our first home game on Saturday.

   Nothing beats home cooking on a cold night.

Word forms

Common combinations

leave home

He left home at eighteen to study in another city.

make yourself at home

Please make yourself at home while I find the tea.

work from home

Many employees now work from home two days a week.

home away from home

The small cafe became a home away from home for the students.

stay-at-home

They agreed that one of them would be a stay-at-home parent.

Synonyms and how they differ

house

House refers neutrally to the building, whereas home adds the idea of living and belonging there.

residence

Residence is more formal and appears mainly in official or legal contexts, with little emotional warmth.

dwelling

Dwelling is a formal or technical word for any place to live and sounds distant compared with home.

Opposites

Word family

homely adjective

comfortable and simple, or in American English, plain-looking

homeless adjective

without a place to live

homeland noun

the country where a person was born or feels they belong

homemade adjective

made in a house rather than bought from a shop

homesick adjective

sad because you are away from where you live

Commonly confused: home or house?

Practice

Make it your own

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

Explore more words