Title Capitalization Tool

What Is Title Case?

Title case (also called headline style or headline capitalization) capitalizes major words in a title while leaving minor words — articles, short prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions — lowercase, depending on the style guide.

Why it matters: Journals, newsrooms, and publishers expect headlines to follow a named guide. A title that capitalizes every word looks amateur next to AP or Chicago copy.

Example: the lord of the rings in Chicago title case becomes The Lord of the Rings — articles and the short preposition of stay lowercase.

Common mistake: Capitalizing every word in a headline. That is mechanical proper case, not style-guide title case.

Edge case: Some platforms use sentence case for display titles (Wikipedia article names). Confirm which convention your editor names before you publish.

Which Title Case Style Should You Use?

Pick the style your editor, course, or publication names. When none is specified, match the dominant guide in your field — AP for news, APA for social-science papers, Chicago for books and general publishing.

Why it matters: Mixing guides in one document signals inconsistent editing. One headline checked against the wrong guide may still be rejected.

Common mistake: Defaulting to whichever output looks “best” instead of the guide your audience expects.

Example: A psychology journal asks for APA 7th edition — match APA title case even if you prefer Chicago elsewhere in the manuscript.

Edge case: Course syllabi sometimes say “title case” without naming a guide. Ask which manual (AP, APA, Chicago, MLA) before submitting.

Title Case Style Comparison

Guides agree on two anchors: the first word and the last word are almost always capitalized. They diverge on short prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, and word-length thresholds.

Why it matters: Side-by-side comparison catches differences that matter in real headlines — especially prepositions like in, on, and to.

Example — same input, different outputs:

• walking to the store → AP: Walking To the Store; APA/Chicago/NYT: Walking to the Store
• drive over the bridge → APA/NYT: Drive Over the Bridge; Chicago/AP: Drive over the Bridge (over is a four-letter minor word)
• mayor signs budget on tuesday → all title-case styles: Mayor Signs Budget on Tuesday (on stays lowercase in the middle)

Common mistake: Assuming AP and APA always match. They often agree, but preposition length and the word to are frequent split points.

Title Case vs Sentence Case

Title case capitalizes major words throughout the headline. Sentence case capitalizes only the first word and proper nouns — everything else stays lowercase.

Why it matters: Sentence case reads like a normal sentence; title case signals a formal headline. Picking the wrong one changes how professional your copy looks.

Example: how to write better headlines → Title case (Chicago): How to Write Better Headlines; Sentence case: How to write better headlines.

Common mistake: Using sentence case for a newspaper headline that expects AP title case — or title case for a Wikipedia article title that expects sentence case.

When to choose sentence case

Sentence case suits email subject lines, button labels, Wikipedia article titles, and informal blog platforms where a conversational tone fits.

Why it matters: Many readers perceive sentence-case subject lines as personal rather than promotional.

Edge case: Proper nouns stay capitalized in sentence case — A hike at Grand Canyon national park still needs Grand Canyon fixed manually if your source had it wrong.

Proper Case vs Title Case

Proper case (capitalize-each-word) uppercases the first letter of every word. Title case follows a style guide and may leave articles, conjunctions, and prepositions lowercase.

Why it matters: Proper case is faster but wrong for publications that enforce AP, APA, or Chicago headline rules.

Example: the lord of the rings → Proper case: The Lord Of The Rings; Chicago title case: The Lord of the Rings.

Common mistake: Submitting proper-case output as a final headline. Use Simple output only when no style guide applies, or the Case Converter for mechanical capitalize-each-word transforms.

Which Words Get Capitalized in a Title?

Style guides classify words into major words (usually capitalized) and minor words (often lowercase in the middle of a title).

Why it matters: Most title-case errors come from misclassifying a preposition or conjunction — not from missing a noun.

Major words (usually capitalized)

Nouns, verbs (including short verbs like is and are), adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and subordinating conjunctions (e.g. because, although) are treated as major words in headline style.

Example: In She Walks Through Fire, She (pronoun), Walks (verb), Through (preposition — capitalized in APA when four+ letters), and Fire (noun) illustrate how part of speech and length interact.

Minor words (often lowercase)

Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), and prepositions are minor in most guides — unless they are the first or last word.

Why it matters: The first-and-last-word rule overrides minor-word status — … and Out keeps Out capitalized even though it is a short preposition.

Common mistake: Lowercasing the last word because it is a preposition. Every major guide capitalizes the final word.

Prepositions in titles

APA and NYT capitalize four-letter minor words such as over and into that Chicago lowercases. AP lowercases the same minor-word set as Chicago but capitalizes infinitive to as To.

Example: drive over the bridge → APA/NYT: Drive Over the Bridge; Chicago: Drive over the Bridge.

Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions — because, although, while, if — are treated as major words and capitalized in headline style.

Why it matters: Writers sometimes lowercase because thinking it is a FANBOYS conjunction. FANBOYS covers only coordinating conjunctions.

Example: study paused because of rain → Study Paused Because of Rain — Because is capitalized; of stays lowercase.

Edge case: Prepositions used as adverbs or particles (e.g. Wake Up) may need manual review — automated rules treat the token as a single word.

Hyphenated Words in Titles

Hyphenated compounds are treated as single tokens in automated title case — only the first letter of the compound is capitalized unless the whole token is first or last in the title.

Why it matters: Official style manuals have detailed rules for prefix compounds, equal compounds, and mid-title hyphens. Automated output is a starting point, not a final CMOS or APA ruling.

Example: state of the art design → Chicago-style: State of the Art Design — the hyphen-free phrase state-of-the-art as one token would capitalize only its first segment letter.

Common mistake: Expecting Self-Report Study vs Self-report Study to resolve automatically. APA and Chicago disagree on many compound patterns — check your manual for formal work.

AP Style Title Case Rules

AP Style (from the Associated Press Stylebook) is the default for U.S. journalism. AP title case capitalizes the first and last word and capitalizes all other words except articles, coordinating conjunctions, and most prepositions.

Why it matters: Newsrooms, PR teams, and wire services expect AP headline form even when body copy follows different local rules.

Example: mayor signs budget on tuesday → Mayor Signs Budget on Tuesday — short preposition on stays lowercase in the middle.

Common mistake: Lowercasing short verbs. AP capitalizes verbs like is, are, and be when they appear mid-title.

AP-specific note: This tool capitalizes the infinitive to as To in AP output (Walking To the Store). Some editors lowercase mid-title to — verify against your desk’s latest AP guidance.

APA Style Title Case Rules

APA title case (from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) capitalizes the first and last word and all words of four or more letters. Words of three or fewer letters that are articles, conjunctions, or short prepositions stay lowercase in the middle.

Why it matters: APA 7th edition uses title case for paper titles and many heading levels in student and professional manuscripts.

Example: effects of sleep on memory → Effects of Sleep on Memory — of and on are short prepositions and stay lowercase.

Common mistake: Capitalizing every word because the title “looks better.” APA deliberately lowercases short function words.

Edge case: Hyphenated compounds are treated as single tokens here. Complex compounds may need a human pass for official APA submission.

Chicago Style Title Case Rules

Chicago title case (from the Chicago Manual of Style) capitalizes the first and last word and all major words. It lowercases articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions from a defined minor-word set — including four-letter words like over and into.

Why it matters: Chicago is the dominant guide for U.S. book publishing. The key split from APA on this page is four-letter minor words: Chicago lowercases over; APA capitalizes it.

Example: drive over the bridge → Chicago: Drive over the Bridge; APA: Drive Over the Bridge.

Common mistake: Assuming Chicago and APA always match. Compare both when over, into, onto, or under appear mid-title.

Limitation: Full CMOS lowercases every preposition regardless of length. Automated rules capitalize longer prepositions not in the minor-word list (e.g. through, between) — verify those against CMOS for formal publishing.

New York Times Title Case Rules

NYT headline style closely resembles APA for many headlines: capitalize the first and last word, capitalize words of four or more letters, and lowercase shorter articles, conjunctions, and prepositions in the middle.

Why it matters: Writers targeting New York Times–style headlines or similar newspaper display type often want this length-based preposition rule.

Example: storm moves up the coast → Storm Moves up the Coast — short prepositions like up stay lowercase in the middle; Coast is capitalized as the last word.

Edge case: NYT house style has exceptions for specific terms and departments. Treat automated output as a draft, not a wire-service submission.

Wikipedia and Sentence-Style Headlines

Wikipedia article titles use sentence case: capitalize the first word and proper nouns; lowercase most other words. The Wikipedia style applies sentence-case rules, not headline title case.

Why it matters: Copying Chicago output into a Wikipedia title field violates the site’s Manual of Style even when the prose topic is the same.

Example: history of the internet → Wikipedia style: History of the internet — only the first word is capitalized.

Common mistake: Expecting Wikipedia output to match Chicago Manual of Style title case. Use Chicago for book-style headlines and Wikipedia style for encyclopedia article names.

Common Title Case Mistakes

Most headline errors repeat a handful of patterns. Catching them before publication saves a round of editor markup.

• Capitalizing every word — proper case is not title case. Compare Simple output to APA or Chicago before submitting.
• Mixing style guides — AP preposition rules in an APA paper (or the reverse) fail formal review even when the headline reads fine.
• Lowercasing the last word — articles and prepositions at the end are still capitalized: … the Who not … the who.
• Ignoring proper nouns — automated rules may alter brand casing (iPhone, eBay). Fix trademarks by hand after converting.
• Wrong style for the platform — Wikipedia sentence case on a newspaper headline (or Chicago on a wiki title) is a category error, not a minor typo.

Why it matters: These mistakes survive spell-check because every word is spelled correctly — only capitalization is wrong.

Example: Introduction To The Study is proper-case-ish; APA wants Introduction to the Study.

Limitations of Automated Title Capitalization

Automated title case applies pattern rules to words in a string. It does not read context, citation lists, or trademark databases.

Why it matters: Final headlines for publication still need a human editor — especially for hyphenated compounds, phrasal verbs, and official publication titles.

What this tool does not cover:

• MLA, AMA, or Bluebook styles — not available in the current style outputs
• Brand-specific casing — macOS, iPhone, eBay may need manual correction
• Phrasal verbs and particles — sign up vs Sign Up depends on usage
• Quoted publication titles — cite a book or film title exactly as published, even when it breaks your headline guide (see below)
• Multi-line batch conversion — paste one headline at a time for accurate per-title review

Referencing publication titles inside headlines

When a headline mentions another work, keep that work’s title as originally published — do not reformat it to match your headline style.

Why it matters: A review titled in Chicago style may still contain to Kill a Mockingbird exactly as the book cover shows it.

Example: Your headline might read New Essay on to Kill a Mockingbird even when surrounding words follow APA rules — fix the embedded title by hand after automated conversion.

Reference: Wikipedia — Letter case (external).

Frequently Asked Questions