résumévsrésuméeTell them apart

Quick tell: résumé is a noun, résumée is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“résumé” is a noun and “résumée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,452
“résumé” frequency rank
#28,340
“résumée” frequency rank
30792
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature résumé résumée
Definition Ce qui résume un texte, un discours, un propos, etc. Participe passé féminin singulier de résumer.

Same sound, different letters: résumé vs résumée

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

6 ch
résumé
7 ch
résumée

Ear matches; page differs - résumé and résumée

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: résumé and résumée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁe.zy.me\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “résumé” sits inside “résumée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

résumé is recorded at frequency rank #2,452, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.zy.me\. résumée is at rank #28,340, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.zy.me\.

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 30792, this pair ranks #307,959 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of résumé vs résumée

Shared letters: mrsué. Private to "résumé": -. Private to "résumée": e.

"résumé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "résumée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "résumé" and "résumée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "résumé" is a noun and "résumée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "résumé" or "résumée" show up more?
"résumé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,452 in our French list, against #28,340 for "résumée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "résumé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "résumée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #307,959 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "résumé" and "résumée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régulée vs résumée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #307,959 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list