How Do You Spell Resume?

“Resume,” “résumé,” and even “resumé” are all supported by authoritative dictionaries and style guides, so you can pick the one that most appeals to you.

Here’s what some major dictionaries and style guides say about the proper way to spell “resume”:

• Merriam–Webster: prefers “résumé” and lists “resume” as a variant, with “resumé” listed as a less common spelling.
• American Heritage Dictionary: “résumé,” “resume,” and “resumé” are all equally acceptable.
• Associated Press: No accents on “resume” or any other words, except for people’s names (for example, Beyoncé).
• Chicago Manual of Style: Preserve accents from foreign words where possible (so “résumé”, which is the original French spelling).

As you can see, most sources approve of all three spellings of “resume.”

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Should I use resume accents or not?

You can use any spelling of resume you want, as long as you:

1. are consistent when writing it in your own application materials, and
2. match the spelling that you see in a company’s job description.

We chose the accentless spelling of “resume” for our company name, Resume Genius, because most people spell it “resume” without the accents and we prefer to keep it simple.

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How to spell resume with accents

Because the English language rarely uses accents, there’s often some confusion about which accent to use on words like “resume.”

The accents on the letter “e” in “résumé” are called “acute” accents. The accents on the letter “a” in “apple pie à la mode” are called “grave” accents. If you want to put any accents on the word resume, acute accents are what you should use.

Here’s a list of the correct and incorrect ways of spelling resume to make things easier for you:

Additionally, you’d be surprised by how many applications we get with an attached “resamay”! Always run spell-check before you send off your application.