diff --git a/stdlib/re.pyi b/stdlib/re.pyi
index 42eb751498c0..bbfa2b333c0f 100644
--- a/stdlib/re.pyi
+++ b/stdlib/re.pyi
@@ -343,6 +343,8 @@ def subn(
 def escape(pattern: AnyStr) -> AnyStr: ...
 @overload
 def escape(pattern: ReadableBuffer) -> bytes: ...
+@overload
+def escape(pattern: str | ReadableBuffer) -> str | bytes: ...
 
 def purge() -> None: ...