Liken audibly to a host (7)
I believe the answer is:
compare
'liken' is the definition.
(I know that liken can be written as compare)
'audibly to a host' is the wordplay.
'audibly' shows a homophone (sound like).
'to a host' becomes 'compere' (host of an event).
'compere' is a homophone of 'COMPARE'.
(Other definitions for compare that I've seen before include "Contrast - liken" , "what discriminators do" , "Represent as similar; sounds like emcee" , "Look at differences and similarities between (things)" .)