Using a variable in a try function in another function without global (python)

How can I use the variable 'guess' in my guessfunction() in the main function (for i in range (1,6)? I get the error that guess is not defined. Initially everything worked fine without the guessfunction, but I wanted to add the possiblity of wrong input from the user and that got me stuck. I saw on stackexchange that it is bad practice to use global inside a function, but even with global I don't know how to solve my issue. Is there also a way to change the int(guess) if it is possible to get the variable from the function? Thank you!

import random, sys

print("Hello. What is your name?")
name = str(input())
print("Well, " + name + ", I am thinking of a number between 1 and 20.")
number = random.randint(1, 20)

def guessfunction():
    print("Take a guess.")
    guess = input()
    for number_attempts in range(0,3):
        try:
            return guess
        except ValueError:
            print("Please enter a number in figures not as a word")
    print("You didn't enter a number in figures after 3 tries, program ended")
    sys.exit()
    
for i in range(1,6):
    guessfunction()
    if int(guess) != number:
        if int(guess) < number:
            print("Your guess is too low")
        else:
            print("Your guess is too high")
    elif int(guess) == number:
        print("Good job, " + name + "! You guessed my number in " + str(i) + " guesses")
        sys.exit()
print("Nope. The number I was thinking of was " +str(number))