At home means in your home, when you're talking about a place, not movement: I'm at home, work at home, stay at home. Its second meaning is relaxed and confident, as if you were in your own home: feel at home in a new city, make yourself at home. People say it about a new job or a group of people too.
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be / stay / work + at home; feel at home (in a place, with people); go / come / get home (no at)
- I left my laptop at home, so I'm borrowing one from the IT department today.
- After a long trip I just want to stay at home and cook something simple.
- By the second week, I already felt at home in my new team.
What changed
First versionI usually stay in home on Sundays.
RevisionI usually stay at home on Sundays.
By analogy with in the house or in the flat, it's easy to put in before home. But when home means where you are, it takes at: stay at home. The correction replaced in with at.
As soon as there's movement (going, travelling or coming back home), at disappears: go home, get home, come home. Go to home and go at home are mistakes. In American English, at is often dropped even when home means a place: I'm home! Stay home tonight.
Your turn
I was exhausted after work, so I went ___ early and slept for ten hours.
Show the answer
home — Went shows movement (going home), and home works here with no preposition. At home answers the question “where?”, not “where to?”.
Describe how you usually spend a weekday evening at home. Name two things you do.
On weekday evenings I'm usually at home: I cook dinner and then read for half an hour.
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