A resemblance is a similarity between two things, especially in appearance. When your friend says you bear a strong resemblance to your older sister, she means you look alike: maybe you share the same eye color, smile, or way of walking.

The word goes beyond identical twins or copies. A resemblance means things share noticeable features without being exactly the same. A student's essay might bear a resemblance to a professional article in its clear organization and strong arguments. A homemade robot might bear some resemblance to ones built by engineers, even if it's simpler. The Grand Canyon bears a resemblance to pictures of Mars' Valles Marineris because both are massive canyon systems carved into rocky landscapes.

When something has no resemblance to something else, they're completely different. People use this phrase for emphasis: “This pizza bears no resemblance to the authentic Italian pizza I had in Rome!”

Notice that resemblance usually involves things you can observe or experience directly. You can see a resemblance between two buildings or hear a resemblance between two songs, but you wouldn't typically say that two numbers bear a resemblance to each other.