Home vs house has always been confusing because people assume it to have the same meaning. Many people tend to use the words house and home interchangeably, but both the words are different. Both the words are similar but they carry a different meaning so if you want to use them correctly in your statement, this article will help you learn the correct difference between a house and home by studying their meanings individually.
Difference Between House And Home: It’s More Than Concrete!
Short Answer:
The definitions of these two words are almost the same:
- house: a “building” in which a person/family lives
- home: a “house” or apartment where a person/ family lives
The main distinction between them is that the house is concrete (yes, cement).
House refers to a “building” in which someone lives whereas a home can refer to any location that a person thinks of as the place where she lives and that belongs to her.
Therefore a home can be a house or an apartment, but it could also be a tent, a boat, or an underground cave.
A home can even be something abstract, a place in your mind. When you say, “Let’s go home,” you are probably not talking simply about going to the physical structure where you live but a place where you feel most personal and comfortable.
- Home also carries more respect than a house, so you can use it when you want to be polite to someone. Example: Best of luck in your new home!
- When you’re talking to other people about your own place, you usually use house instead of home because you’re inviting them to a building. Example: Why don’t you all come over to our house for tea?
When to Use House
House is used when you want to talk about a permanent structure, a building.
House is used when generally referred to a building in which someone lives – or even if there is no one living inside the building. Example: My parents decided to sell the house and move back to Seattle.
When to Use Home
Home is the place where you live or the location where you feel that you belong, so a home can be a building or a location.
Home has more emotional feelings than the world house, it represents comfort, safety.
A home can also be the town/ city/ country where you grew up.
Example: My parents decided to sell my childhood home and move back to Seattle.
Difference Between House And Home: More Detailed
On a basic level, a house = physical building that is made of bricks, cement, and all the other raw materials.
But the moment you call it home, we mean a place where you live with your families and loved ones. Home = comfort and safety (keep in mind childhood “home”).
The meaning of both words is very clear when you remember the saying: Home is where the heart is. This is because a home has a sense of personal value where you feel you belong.
But a house is just a building and has less meaning to you.
Origin Of The Word House – Buildings are meant to be turned into a Home!
Houses are built in different shapes and sizes because they are an enclosed place within four walls with a roof to cover the top. The main function of a house is to provide a place to stay for shelter rather than “comfort”. It gives you and your family some kind of property.
The inception of the word house comes from the Old English word ‘hus’ which origin traced to mean shelter or dwelling offering permanent or temporary accommodation for you and your family.
Utilize the word ‘house’ in sentences that refer to the building we stay in and not the overall condition/feeling of the place.
A house can be a personal property used to create a place to live and so we say “you turn a house into a home and not the other way round”.
Living In A Home
Comfortable and cozy, a home is a place where you have your family and loved ones. In other words, your support and take care of each other.
To define it in even simpler words, “ a home” means how you feel about a place. Abstract as hell, a home can be anything – from a building to a tunnel or a cave you can stay anywhere and turn it into a home.
Unlike the house, a home is not anything physical made with concrete and other raw materials.
When we say ‘let’s go home’, we don’t mean the physical building where we stay in but we do say “let’s shift to a new house” when we want to consider a new physical building to shift into.
This is because a home is a place that has memories and emotions attached to it.
A home can also refer to a town or country where you were born or have lived for years.
Meanings
A home teaches you to take care of your family members and show mindfulness and empathy with them.
A home keeps you bonded and close to each other.
Final Thoughts:
When you erect a new building, you say that you are building a house, not a home! This means you are making a physical building by using all the raw materials to make an apartment, flat, building, or government housing.
You make a house a home by staying alone or with your family or tribe in a place or building and start to be considerate of the conditions you’re in.
