What is Title Case?
Title Case is a capitalization style where the first letter of most words is capitalized. It is commonly used for titles of books, articles, movies, blog posts, and headings in formal documents.
Example: The Quick Brown Fox Jumps over the Lazy Dog
Notice that most words are capitalized, but "over" and "the" (after the first position) are not.
Title Case Rules
The rules for Title Case can vary by style guide, but the general principles are:
Always capitalize:
- The first and last word of the title
- Nouns — dog, city, book
- Verbs — run, is, write
- Adjectives — quick, beautiful, smart
- Adverbs — quickly, very, also
- Pronouns — he, she, they, it
- Subordinating conjunctions — although, because, since, while
Do NOT capitalize (unless first/last word):
- Articles — a, an, the
- Short prepositions (under ~4 letters) — in, on, at, by, to, for, of, up
- Coordinating conjunctions — and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
Title Case vs Sentence Case
| Feature | Title Case | Sentence Case |
|---|
|---|---|---|
| First word | Capitalized | Capitalized |
|---|---|---|
| All major words | Capitalized | Lowercase |
| Use for | Headings, titles | Body text, captions |
| Example | The Quick Brown Fox | The quick brown fox |
Style Guide Differences
Different editorial style guides have slightly different rules:
- Chicago Manual of Style: Capitalizes all words except articles, prepositions under 5 letters, and coordinating conjunctions
- AP Style: Similar to Chicago; used by journalists and news organizations
- APA Style: Capitalizes the first word, proper nouns, and words after colons; mostly used in academic writing
- MLA Style: Capitalizes all principal words; similar to Chicago
For blog posts and general web writing, Chicago-style Title Case is most commonly used.
When to Use Title Case
Use Title Case for:
- Blog post titles and article headlines
- Book, movie, and TV show names
- Album and song titles
- Headings in formal reports and presentations
- Navigation items in website menus
- Button labels in UI design (often Sentence Case or Title Case)
- Course names in academic contexts
Quick Reference
**Always capitalize:** First word, last word, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
**Never capitalize (unless first/last):** a, an, the, and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet, in, on, at, by, to, of, up
Use our free Title Case Converter to apply these rules automatically — just paste your text and the tool handles the rest.