A photomask for projecting a transfer pattern onto a wafer having a plurality of regions with different surface levels includes a transparent substrate; a shielding member on the transparent substrate having a plurality of patterns for projection onto respective regions of the wafer; and an optical-path-length varying layer on at least one of the patterns corresponding to a region of the wafer other than a reference region of the wafer for changing the optical path length of light transmitted through the pattern by a length corresponding to the difference in surface level between the corresponding region and the reference region of the wafer. A pattern transfer method using such a photomask includes directing light onto the photomask; effecting a change in the position of the apparent object-side image surface for at least one pattern including the optical-path-length varying layer; and simultaneously forming on surfaces of the wafer regions image formation planes respectively corresponding to at least two patterns by image projection using light transmitted through the patterns.