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'Guest' is an invited person or visitor; 'guessed' is the past tense of 'to guess'.
Side-by-side comparison
"Guest" is a visitor or invited person: someone who comes to your home, hotel, or event. "Guest speaker" = an invited speaker.
We have a special guest joining us for the keynote presentation today.
The hotel could accommodate up to three hundred guests at the conference.
Be my guest, help yourself to the refreshments.
"Guessed" is the past tense and past participle of "guess": to suppose or estimate without certainty. "I guessed the answer" = I estimated the answer. Pronounced the same as "guest".
She guessed the answer correctly without having read the brief.
Nobody guessed that the project would be cancelled so abruptly.
I guessed it would rain today, so I brought an umbrella.
Common mistake
"The special guessed at the conference" when meaning the invited speaker is wrong: the invited person is "guest". "Guessed" is the past of to guess.
Trick to remember it
- •"Guest" has a silent U like "guide", "guard", "guarantee": French-origin words for special or official roles.
- •"Guessed" is simply guess + ed (past tense): the silent U of "guess" carries into "guessed".
Quick rule
- •Is it the invited person or visitor? "Guest".
- •Is it the past of to guess? "Guessed".
Did you know?
"Guest" and "host" share the same Proto-Indo-European root: *ghosti-, meaning "stranger" or "guest." In Latin, that root split into "hostis" (enemy, the dangerous stranger) and "hospes" (guest, the stranger under the protection of hospitality). From the first come "hostile" and "host" as an army; from the second come "hospital", "hotel", and "hospice." The same root gave "ghost" in English, the mysterious visitor from another world. Guest and host are essentially the same word because ancient hospitality was a relationship of mutual obligations, not a distinction of roles.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
She _____ the answer correctly! She didn't even study for the quiz.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
We have twelve _____ s coming for dinner on Saturday.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
One means to receive or agree to something, the other means to exclude or not include.
'Advice' is the guidance you receive (noun); 'advise' is the act of giving that guidance (verb).
'Affect' is the verb meaning to influence something; 'effect' is the noun meaning result or consequence.
'Aisle' is the walkway between rows of seats or shelves; 'isle' is a small island.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy