Title Capitalization Tool
Type a title and see it capitalized in AP, APA, Chicago and MLA style side by side, plus sentence case, with the small words each style keeps lowercase highlighted. Everything runs in your browser.
Rules are applied by word lists, so a word that can be several parts of speech (like “up” in “Give Up” or “like” as a verb) may need a manual tweak. Proper nouns are not detected in sentence case: type them with a capital and keep the option above on.
How to use the Title Capitalization Tool
- Type or paste your title or headline. Use one line per title to convert several at once.
- Compare the styles: the four style cards update as you type, with lowercase small words highlighted in green.
- Pick your style guide: AP for news and blogs, APA for psychology and social sciences, Chicago for books and history, MLA for literature and humanities papers.
- Press Copy on the style you need and paste it into your document.
Title case rules compared
| Rule | AP | APA 7 | Chicago 17 | MLA 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Articles (a, an, the) | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| Prepositions | lowercase if 3 letters or fewer | lowercase if 3 letters or fewer | lowercase, any length | lowercase, any length |
| and, but, for, or, nor | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| so, yet | lowercase | lowercase | Capitalized | lowercase |
| if, as | lowercase | lowercase | If capitalized, as lowercase | If capitalized, as lowercase |
| to (also in infinitives) | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| Words of 4+ letters | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized unless a preposition | Capitalized unless a preposition |
| First word / after colon | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized | Capitalized |
| Last word | Capitalized | No special rule | Capitalized | Capitalized |
| Second part of hyphenated word | Capitalized | Capitalized if major | lowercase after prefixes (anti-, pre-) and in numbers | Capitalized if major |
One title, four styles
Take the headline a guide to living with less: how to declutter your life over 30 days:
- AP and APA: A Guide to Living With Less: How to Declutter Your Life Over 30 Days. “With” and “Over” have four letters, so they are capitalized.
- Chicago and MLA: A Guide to Living with Less: How to Declutter Your Life over 30 Days. “with” and “over” are prepositions, so they stay lowercase whatever their length.
- Sentence case: A guide to living with less: How to declutter your life over 30 days.
Which style should I use?
AP (Associated Press) is the standard for news, press releases and many blogs. APA is used in psychology, education and the social sciences, with title case for paper titles and headings and sentence case for titles in reference lists. Chicago is common in book publishing, history and many magazines. MLA is used for essays in literature, languages and the humanities. If you need the full reference entry rather than just the title, use the Citation Generator or the MLA Format Generator. For other conversions such as UPPERCASE or camelCase try the Case Converter, and check headline length with the YouTube Title Checker.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between AP, APA, Chicago and MLA title case?
All four capitalize major words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. AP and APA lowercase only short articles, conjunctions and prepositions (3 letters or fewer), so “With” and “Over” are capitalized. Chicago and MLA lowercase every preposition regardless of length (“with”, “between”, “over”). MLA also lowercases “so” and “yet”, which Chicago capitalizes.
Which words are not capitalized in a title?
Usually the articles a, an and the, coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, or and nor, short prepositions such as at, by, for, in, of, on and to, and in Chicago and MLA all prepositions. They are still capitalized when they are the first word of the title or subtitle, and in AP, Chicago and MLA when they are the last word.
Should I capitalize the word after a colon in a title?
Yes. In all four styles the first word of a subtitle, which usually follows a colon, is capitalized even if it is a small word: “Rome: A History of the Empire”. Chicago and MLA also capitalize the last word before the colon.
Does APA capitalize the last word of a title?
APA 7 does not have a last-word rule. It capitalizes the first word, the first word after a colon or dash, major words and words of four letters or more, so a short final preposition stays lowercase (“What Are You Looking for”). AP, Chicago and MLA always capitalize the last word.
How are hyphenated words capitalized?
AP, APA and MLA capitalize both parts of a hyphenated major word (“Self-Report”, “Long-Term”) but keep small words lowercase (“Step-by-Step”). Chicago lowercases the second part after a prefix that cannot stand alone (“Anti-inflammatory”, “Pre-war”) and in spelled-out numbers (“Twenty-one”).
When should I use sentence case instead?
APA uses sentence case for the titles of articles, books and web pages in the reference list, and many websites, UI texts and news sites (for headlines) use sentence case. Only the first word, the first word after a colon, proper nouns and acronyms are capitalized there.
Why is a word capitalized wrongly?
The tool decides by word lists and cannot always tell the part of speech. “Up” in “Give Up” or “Look Up” is part of a phrasal verb and should be capitalized in Chicago and MLA, and “like” can be a verb. Proper nouns in sentence case are also not detected. Adjust those words by hand.