cumuler

Cumuler means to hold or combine several things at once — jobs, roles, or benefits — rather than to pile things up over time. Cumuler deux emplois (to hold down two jobs simultaneously), cumuler les fonctions de maire et de député (to hold both offices at once).

• Il cumule un poste de professeur et une activité de consultant. — He holds down a teaching job and a consulting business at the same time.
• Elle cumule les avantages sans en avoir les inconvénients. — She gets all the benefits without any of the downsides.
• En France, certains élus cumulent plusieurs mandats. — In France, some elected officials hold several offices at once.

Cumuler (to hold multiple things concurrently) is often confused with accumuler (to amass or pile up over time, like accumuler de la poussière or de la richesse) — they share a root but describe different processes.