home, house

These words identify any kind of shelter that serves as the residence of a person, family, or household. House lacks the associated meanings attributed to home, a term that suggests comfort, peace, love, and family ties. It may be said that what a builder erects is a house which, when lived in, becomes a home. Such a statement may be considered sentimental, echoing the lines of Edgar A. Guest ("It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home"). Sentiment or not, one usually speaks of "buying a home" and "selling a house." But firemen put out a fire in a house, not a home, and reference is always made to a "house and lot," not a "home and lot." Conversely, one usually refers to a "home for the aged," not a "house for the aged." Since home and house are so subtly differentiated in use, why not sometimes resort to residence and dwelling and save confusion?