Mangled phrases

home in

Home in, like a homing pigeon. Hone means to sharpen.

  • Let’s hone in on the root cause.

    Let’s home in on the root cause.

    Homing in is navigation, like a missile or a pigeon.

  • Time to home your skills.

    Time to hone your skills.

    Sharpening. That’s hone, and it takes no in.

The two words

Home in comes from homing pigeons and later homing missiles—moving progressively closer to a target. It always takes in or in on.

Hone means to sharpen on a whetstone. You hone a blade, or a skill. It doesn’t take in, because sharpening isn’t directional.

The honest caveat

Hone in is common enough that several dictionaries now record it as a variant, and it’s been drifting that way since the 1960s. It’s still the one people notice, and home in is never wrong.

Now go home in on it.