If you send an email that you already sent, can you say you "resent" it? Same as "resenting" someone?

  • I resent my email.
  • I resent my mother.
  • I resent my email to my mother.

Odd, isn't it?


Solution 1:

As Barrie suggests, a hyphen is useful when writing,
because the two verb forms are spelled the same.

However, that's only in writing.

In real English, they're pronounced differently, so that's never a problem:

  • re-sent 'sent again' is pronounced /ˌri'sɛnt/
  • resent 'dislike' is pronounced /rɪ'zɛnt/

Solution 2:

In cases such as this where a productive prefix produces a different word that already exists, you would normally leave in the hyphen to disambiguate between the options:

You say I never copy you on e-mails? I resent that!

You say you never got the e-mail from me? I re-sent that!