Meaning & use
paying guest
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Meanings
nouncountable
Someone who rents a room in a private home where the owner also lives, often with meals included.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a paying guest' or 'two paying guests'; it usually follows 'a' or a number.
Patterns
- a paying guest in someone's home
- take in paying guests
- stay as a paying guest
When she moved to the city for college, she stayed as a paying guest with a retired teacher.
The family takes in two paying guests during the summer to help with bills.
As a paying guest, he had his own room but shared the kitchen with the owners.
nouncountable
A visitor who has bought a ticket or paid a fee, rather than being invited free.
Grammar: Countable and often used in the plural to contrast with invited guests: 'paying guests' versus 'free guests'.
Patterns
- paying guests only
- open to paying guests
The private club opens its dining room to paying guests on weekends.
Invited friends came for free, but paying guests had to buy a ticket at the door.
Word forms
| plural | paying guests |
|---|
Common combinations
- stay as a paying guest
- He stayed as a paying guest with a local family while he studied.
- take in paying guests
- Many families in the town take in paying guests during the festival.
- a paying guest in a private home
- She found a room as a paying guest in a private home near the office.
- accommodation for paying guests
- The old house now provides accommodation for paying guests.
- meals included for paying guests
- Breakfast and dinner are included for paying guests.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lodger
- Very close in meaning, but 'lodger' is the usual word in Britain and does not suggest that meals are provided.
- boarder
- Similar, though 'boarder' strongly suggests that meals come with the room; it can also mean a student living at a school.
- tenant
- A tenant rents a whole property under a legal agreement, while a paying guest usually rents only a room and shares the owner's home.
Word family
- guest noun
- A person you invite or who stays at a hotel; 'paying guest' adds the idea of payment.
- guesthouse noun
- A small business that lets rooms to travelers, rather than a private home.
Commonly confused: paying guest or guest? paying guest or host?
paying guest vs guest
'Guest' alone means any invited or hotel visitor and says nothing about money; 'paying guest' makes the payment clear.
paying guest vs host
The host is the person who owns the home and receives the paying guest, so the two words describe opposite roles.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'paying guest' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Paying guest' means someone who rents a room in a private home, so staying with a family fits. Option 0 is wrong because hotels have guests, not 'paying guests' in this sense; option 2 is ungrammatical; option 3 contradicts 'for free'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “paying guest”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.