How to Spell Resume: Résumé, Resume or Resumé?
Résumé, with an acute accent on each e, is the spelling the American Heritage Dictionary and both Oxford learner's dictionaries list first. Resume without accents is also correct: Dictionary.com prefers it, and AP style drops the accents. Resumé, with one accent, is a recorded variant that Dictionary.com calls false accent marking. Pick one and keep it.
How do you type résumé with its accents on each device?
Résumé has é twice, and each one is typed the same way. The capital É is only needed when the whole word is in capitals, as in RÉSUMÉ. Each row gives the documented method for one device or app; the vendor help pages are linked under the table.
| Device or app | é | É |
|---|---|---|
| Mac | Option+E, then E | Option+E, then Shift+E |
| Windows | Alt+0233 | Alt+0201 |
| Windows, US-International | AltGr+E | Shift+AltGr+E |
| iPhone, iPad | Touch and hold E, then slide to é | Turn on Shift, then touch and hold E, then slide to É |
| Android | Touch and hold E, then slide to é | Turn on Shift, then touch and hold E, then slide to É |
| Chromebook | Switch to the US International keyboard, then ', then E | Switch to the US International keyboard, then ', then Shift+E |
| Microsoft Word | Ctrl+', then E | Ctrl+', then Shift+E |
| Google Docs | Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter e with acute" | Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin capital letter e with acute" |
How to type accents:on a Macon Windowson a Chromebookin Wordin Google Docs
Sources:Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Windows (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Windows, US-International (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)iPhone, iPad (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Android (Google) (opens in a new tab)Chromebook (Google) (opens in a new tab)Microsoft Word (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Google Docs (Google) (opens in a new tab)
Résumé, resume or resumé: what do dictionaries and style guides say?
6 dictionaries and style guides, American and British, rule on the 3 spellings below. Each row is one source's verdict on one spelling, in its own words where it has them, with a link to the page it is read from. Tap a spelling to copy it.
| Spelling | Source | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| American Heritage Dictionary (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Preferred. Lists it first, as “ré·su·mé or re·su·me or re·su·mé”, for a brief account of one's professional experience and qualifications. | |
| Oxford Advanced American Dictionary (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Preferred. Heads the entry “résumé (also resumé, resume)”, with the job document as its first sense. | |
| Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (opens in a new tab) (British dictionary) | Preferred. Gives résumé as the only spelling, labels the job sense North American English and sends British readers to curriculum vitae. | |
| Guardian and Observer style guide (opens in a new tab) (British style guide) | Preferred. Drops the accents from anglicised words such as cafe, but names résumé among the exceptions that keep them. | |
| Dictionary.com (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Accepted. Gives it as a spelling the noun is “sometimes” written in, and its spelling note says résumé has two acute accent marks. | |
| AP Stylebook, as quoted by CJR (opens in a new tab) (American style guide) | Advised against. Since 2019 allows accent marks on the names of people who use them and in direct quotes, not on things: “no accent mark in entree, cafe, decor”. | |
| Dictionary.com (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Preferred. Heads the noun entry with resume and says the accents “are not required and it is better to avoid using them”. | |
| AP Stylebook, as quoted by CJR (opens in a new tab) (American style guide) | Preferred. Writes borrowed words for things without their accents; CJR sums the 2019 rule up for this word as no “résumé”. | |
| American Heritage Dictionary (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Accepted. Gives re·su·me as the second of its spellings, after ré·su·mé. | |
| Oxford Advanced American Dictionary (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Accepted. Lists resume after résumé, with “also”. | |
| American Heritage Dictionary (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Accepted. Gives re·su·mé as the last of its spellings. | |
| Oxford Advanced American Dictionary (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Accepted. Lists resumé with “also”, beside resume. | |
| Dictionary.com (opens in a new tab) (American dictionary) | Advised against. Its spelling note names resumé as “haphazard or false accent marking”, although its entry lists resumé among the forms the noun is sometimes written in. |
- résumé: preferred by American Heritage Dictionary, Oxford Advanced American Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Guardian and Observer style guide; accepted by Dictionary.com; advised against by AP Stylebook, as quoted by CJR.
- resume: preferred by Dictionary.com and AP Stylebook, as quoted by CJR; accepted by American Heritage Dictionary and Oxford Advanced American Dictionary.
- resumé: accepted by American Heritage Dictionary and Oxford Advanced American Dictionary; advised against by Dictionary.com.
The table answers how to spell resume source by source. It quotes the dictionaries and style guides whose pages answered AccentPad on 2026-10-17. Merriam-Webster, Cambridge and Collins refused the request that day (HTTP 403), so none of their wording is used here.
Why does résumé have two accents?
Because English took the word whole from French, accents included. The American Heritage Dictionary traces résumé to the French for a summary, the past participle of résumer, to summarize. Dictionary.com dates the first English record to 1795–1805. Larousse gives résumer a Latin root, resumere, which it glosses as reprendre, to take up again.
Larousse writes the French word résumé, with an accent aigu on each e, and English kept both marks. Dictionary.com notes that writers hold on to the marks in résumé and exposé more than in cafe because the plain spellings are also English verbs. The two words do not sound alike.
| Word | What it means | Pronunciation | Where the transcription is from |
|---|---|---|---|
| résumé, the noun | the job document; a summary | /ˈrezəmeɪ/ in American English, /ˈrezjuːmeɪ/ in British English | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary |
| resume, the verb | to begin again after a pause | /rɪˈzum/ in American English | Dictionary.com |
The acute accent and the other e accents each have a job in French, set out on the e with accent page.
What does résumé mean in French?
Not the document you send with a job application. Larousse defines un résumé as the short form of the content of a text, a document or a film. Its examples are the résumé of a book and a résumé of the situation.
The job document is un curriculum vitae in Larousse, from Latin, which it glosses as carrière de la vie, the course of a life. Its abbreviation is C.V. So a French employer asks for your CV, and a résumé in French is a summary of something else. American English narrowed the borrowed word to the career summary, and the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary gives that sense first.
Résumé or CV: which word does British English use?
Mostly CV. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, which is written for British English, labels the job sense of résumé North American English and gives curriculum vitae as the British word for it. Its other sense, a short summary of something, has no label, as in a brief résumé of events.
When British writers do use the word, they tend to keep the marks. The Guardian and Observer style guide drops accents from words English has absorbed, such as cafe and raison d'etre, but lists résumé with exposé, lamé and roué as words that keep them.
Should the accents go on your own résumé?
Whether you write your resume with accents or without them, the dictionaries leave it to you. Every spelling in the table is recorded by at least one American dictionary, so none of them is a spelling mistake, and the choice is one of style. Two things follow from the sources:
- Both accents or none. Dictionary.com's rule for borrowed words is all or nothing. Résumé and resume are each consistent; resumé, with only the final accent, is the form its spelling note calls false accent marking.
- Keep one spelling throughout. A heading that says résumé over a cover letter that says resume reads as a slip, whichever one you meant.
If your document will be named, uploaded or emailed, the plain spelling also travels better. The table of encodings below shows what each é becomes when a system reads the file name with the wrong character set; resume.pdf has no letter that can go wrong.
What happens to the accents of résumé in a file name or a link?
In UTF-8, the encoding of the web and of most files, é is 2 bytes, C3 A9. A program that reads those bytes as Windows-1252 shows é instead, so a file named résumé.pdf can arrive as résumé.pdf. Each row is the same word, as one place writes it:
| Where | How résumé is written there |
|---|---|
| As typed | résumé |
| UTF-8 read as Windows-1252 | résumé |
| In a link (percent-encoded) | r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9 |
| In HTML source | résumé |
| With the marks taken off | resume |
Which AccentPad pages cover the letters of résumé?
Wiktionary lists résumé among the English words spelled with é, so it is also on that page's list of English words that keep the letter.
Every letter with the same mark, on one page: Accent aigu.
How to type résumé with its accents, step by step
Step 1: On a Mac
Type r, press Option+E and then E to get é, type sum, and press Option+E and E again for the last é.
Step 2: On Windows
Turn on Num Lock. Type r, hold Alt, type 0233 on the number pad and let go to get é, type sum, then repeat Alt+0233 for the last é. Alt+0201 gives the capital É for RÉSUMÉ.
Step 3: On iPhone or Android
Type r, touch and hold E on the on-screen keyboard, slide to é and lift your finger. Type sum, then touch and hold E again for the last é.
Step 4: In Microsoft Word
Press Ctrl and the apostrophe key together, then E, wherever résumé needs an é. For the capital É, press Ctrl and the apostrophe key, then Shift+E.
Step 5: On a Chromebook
Switch to the US International keyboard in settings. Then the apostrophe key followed by E types é, so résumé is r, apostrophe, E, sum, apostrophe, E.
Frequently asked questions about résumé
Is it résumé, resume or resumé?
All three are in American dictionaries. The American Heritage Dictionary lists ré·su·mé first, then re·su·me and re·su·mé. Dictionary.com prefers plain resume. For British readers the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary has only résumé, and British English mostly says CV for the job document.
What are the resume accent marks called?
Both are acute accents, the mark French calls the accent aigu, and each one sits on an e. Dictionary.com's spelling note puts it plainly: résumé has two acute accent marks. The letter they make is é, the same one café and cliché keep in English.
Is resumé with one accent wrong?
Not by the dictionaries: the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary both record resumé. Dictionary.com's spelling note disagrees and calls it false accent marking. Its advice for borrowed words is all or nothing: both accents, or none.
How do you type résumé with accents on a Mac or Windows PC?
On a Mac, press Option+E, then E, for each é. On Windows, turn on Num Lock, hold Alt and type 0233 on the number pad for each é. On a phone, touch and hold E and slide to é. Or copy résumé from the spellings table on this page.
Do you say resume and résumé the same way?
No. The verb resume, to start again, is /rɪˈzum/ in Dictionary.com's American transcription. The noun résumé is /ˈrezəmeɪ/ in American English and /ˈrezjuːmeɪ/ in British English, in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Dictionary.com says the accents help keep the two words apart.
Should I write CV or résumé in the UK?
Write CV. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary labels the job sense of résumé North American English and gives curriculum vitae as the British English word. In French, too, the job document is a curriculum vitae, abbreviated C.V. in Larousse.