Which to use
“guess” is a verb and “guest” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,615
- “guess” frequency rank
- #38,160
- “guest” frequency rank
- 67775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | guess | guest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mutmaßen, vermuten, erraten | Gast |
Letter map: guess vs guest
Shared letters muted; letters that set guess and guest apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: guess vs guest
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: guess is averb and guestanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - s in “guess” becomes t in “guest”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
guess is recorded at frequency rank #29,615, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡɛs]. guest is at rank #38,160, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 67775, this pair ranks #529,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of guess vs guest
Shared letters: egsu. Private to "guess": -. Private to "guest": t.
"guess" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "guest" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "guess" and "guest" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "guess" or "guest" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "guess" and "guest". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "guess" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "guest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #529,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "guess" and "guest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "guest vs puzzles". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #529,148 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.