0 words, 0 characters Straight quotesIf checked, quotes will be output as straight quotes. If unchecked, quotes will be output as curly quotes. Quick Copy (NEW)Automatically copy the capitalized title with CTRL + C (⌘ + C on Mac) or after pasting. Headline score: -
How to Use Capitalize My Title
- Select your title capitalization style above by clicking on a tab. If you have questions, read our title capitalization rules below.
- Enter your title in the text box.
- Watch your title convert case and be automatically capitalized!
- If you want to, you can press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the Copy button next to the text box to copy the text to your clipboard.
- Capitalize your next title 😃
Bonus: We have some great shortcuts to make your life easier.
Case Converter Options
You have multiple options to capitalize and change the case of your titles, headlines, song titles, book titles, email subjects, and more. Below is a description of the ways you can use our case converter.
Top Tabs
The top tabs allow you to select which style of capitalization you want to use. You can learn more in the Title Capitalization Rules by Style section.
- APA: Capitalize using the APA style guide.
- Chicago: Capitalize using the Chicago Manual of Style capitalization rules.
- AP: Use the Associated Press Stylebook capitalization guidelines.
- MLA: Use the MLA Handbook title capitalization rules.
- BB: Use the Bluebook title capitalization rules.
- AMA: Use the AMA Manual of Style capitalization rules.
- NY Times: Use the NY Times style guidelines.
- Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia’s capitalization rules.
- Email: Use proper capitalization rules for email.
Bottom Buttons
The buttons at the bottom let you choose specific case conversion options for the various styles.
- Title Case: Capitalize only the words that should be capitalized according to the top tab style guide.
- Sentence Case: Capitalize only the first word of each sentence.
- Uppercase: Convert your title from lowercase to uppercase.
- Lowercase: Convert your title from uppercase to lowercase.
- First Letter: Capitalize the first letter of every word.
- Alt Case: Capitalize every other letter of your text starting with the first letter being capitalized.
- Toggle Case: Change the case of every letter in your string. Similar to the Microsoft Word feature.
Other Options
- Straight quotes: Curly quotes (“,”,‘,’) are used in good typography. If you need to use straight quotes, enable this feature.
- Get Headline Score/Get Email Subject Score: Find out how strong your headline or email subject is by using our convenient tools.
Common Case Converter Uses
Title case converter
Quickly convert your title or text to title case by simply clicking the “Title Case” button in the tool above.
Sentence case converter
Quickly convert your title or text to sentence case by simply clicking the “Sentence case” button in the tool above.
Uppercase to lowercase converter
If you left caps lock on accidentally, you can quickly convert your title from uppercase to lowercase by selecting the “lower” button above. This will uncapitalize your text. You can also use this tool to do it automatically.
Lowercase to uppercase converter
Alternatively, you can use our tool to convert text from lowercase to uppercase by clicking the “UPPER” button. You can also use this tool to do it automatically.
Uppercase to title case converter
If you want to change your title from uppercase to title case, you can select the “Title Case” button above.
All caps converter
You can quickly convert your text or title to all caps by selecting the “UPPER” button on the tool. This will convert your text to uppercase.
What to Capitalize in a Title
Understanding what to capitalize in a title is important to make sure that your titles and headlines look correct. If you’re confused about what words to capitalize in a title or headline, we recommend using our title capitalization tool above, but if you want specific capitalization rules, they are as follows.
First, it is important to note that there are four main title capitalization styles: Chicago style, APA style, MLA style, and AP style. Each of these capitalization styles has slightly different rules for which words are capitalized and each of these styles can be written using title case capitalization or sentence case capitalization.
What Is Title Case Capitalization?
Title case is the most common form of title and headline capitalization and is found in all four major title capitalization styles. Title case is also commonly used for book titles, movies titles, song names, plays, and other works.
In general, the following capitalization rules apply across the four styles in title case:
- Capitalize the first word in the title
- Capitalize the last word in the title
- Capitalize the important words in the title
Important words in that last bullet generally refer to:
- Adjectives (tiny, large, etc.)
- Adverbs (quietly, smoothly, etc.)
- Nouns (tablet, kitchen, book)
- Pronouns (they, she, he)
- Subordinating conjunctions (when fewer than 5 letters)
- Verbs (write, type, create)
Title case is the most common title capitalization for book titles, headlines, articles titles, etc. When multiple letters in a title need to be capitalized, use title case capitalization.
Words Not Capitalized in Title Case
While the above words are generally capitalized in titles regardless of style, there are some words that are generally not capitalized when using title case. Again, these will depend on the specific style you choose (see Title Capitalization Rules by Style section). These include short words and conjunctions:
- Articles (a, an, the)
- Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for)
- Short (fewer than 4 letters)
- Prepositions (at, by, to, etc.)
What Is Sentence Case?
The other major type of title capitalization standard is sentence case. Sentence case simply means you capitalize the first letter of a sentence, proper nouns, and nothing else as opposed to capitalizing almost every first letter in title case. It is the same across all of the four styles.
For more specific title capitalization rules, you can see the following sections which cover each style of title capitalization rules or check out our FAQs for common capitalization questions. Our tool lets you convert the case of your text easily into sentence case.
Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition Capitalization Rules
Chicago Style is one of the most used and respected headline capitalization methods used in journalism. The rules are fairly standard for title case:
- Capitalize the first and the last word.
- Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
- Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions (regardless of length).
- Lowercase the second word after a hyphenated prefix (e.g., Mid-, Anti-, Super-, etc.) in compound modifiers (e.g., Mid-year, Anti-hero, etc.).
- Lowercase the ‘to’ in an infinitive (e.g., I Want to Play Guitar).
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition Capitalization Rules
Making sure you have the right capitalization for APA headings is crucial for scholarly articles. The following rules apply to APA headline capitalization and title capitalization:
- Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading
- Capitalize all major words (nouns, verbs including phrasal verbs such as “play with”, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) in the title/heading, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Self-Report not Self-report)
- Capitalize all words of four letters or more.
Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook, 9th Edition Capitalization Rules
Making sure you have the right capitalization for MLA headings is crucial for scholarly articles. The following rules apply to MLA headings:
- Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading.
- Capitalize all major words (nouns, verbs including phrasal verbs such as “play with”, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) in the title/heading, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Self-Report not Self-report).
- Do not capitalize articles, prepositions (regardless of length), and coordinating conjunctions.
- Lowercase the second word after a hyphenated prefix (e.g., Mid-, Anti-, Super-, etc.) in compound modifiers (e.g., Mid-year, Anti-hero, etc.).
- Do not capitalize ‘to’ in infinitives (e.g., I Want to Play Guitar).
The Associated Press (AP) 2020 Edition Stylebook Capitalization Rules
AP style capitalization is mainly used by writers for the Associated Press but is also used widely throughout journalism. The capitalization rules are as follows:
- Capitalize the first and the last word.
- Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
- Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
- Lowercase the second word in a compound modifier (e.g., Mid-year or On-site).
- Capitalize words with four or more letters (including conjunctions and prepositions).
- Capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word (new as of 4/25/23).
- Capitalize the ‘to’ in an infinitive (e.g., I Want To Play Guitar).
Bluebook 21st Edition Capitalization Rules
Bluebook style capitalization is mainly used by lawyers. The capitalization rules are as follows:
- Capitalize the first and the last word.
- Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
- Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of four letters or fewer.
- Lowercase “to” in the infinitive (though not defined in the stylebook).
American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style 11th Edition Capitalization Rules
AMA style capitalization is mainly used in the scientific community. The capitalization rules are as follows:
- Capitalize the first and the last word of titles and subtitles.
- Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions (major words).
- Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of four letters or fewer.
- Lowercase “to” in the infinitive.
- Lowercase the second word in a hyphenated compound when it is a prefix or suffix (e.g., “Anti-itch”,”world-wide”) or part of a single word.
- Capitalize the second word in a hyphenated compound if both words are equal and not suffices or prefixes (e.g., “Cost-Benefit”)
- Capitalize the first non-Greek letter after a lowercase Greek letter (e.g., “ω-Bromohexanoic”)
- Lowercase the first non-Greek letter after a capital Greek letter (e.g., “Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol”)
- Capitalize the genus but not the species epithet
NY Times Style Capitalization Rules
NY Times style capitalization is mainly used by writers for the NY Times but is also used widely throughout journalism. The capitalization rules are as follows:
- Capitalize major words, e.g. nouns, pronouns, verbs.
- Capitalize the first and the last word.
- Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs (including phrasal verbs such as “play with”), adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
- Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
Wikipedia Style Capitalization Rules
Wikipedia editors must follow certain capitalization rules for any posts to Wikipedia. The capitalization rules are as follows:
- Capitalize major words, e.g. nouns, pronouns, verbs.
- Capitalize the first and the last word.
- Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
- Lowercase indefinite and definite articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
- Prepositions that contain five letters or more.
- The word “to” in infinitives.
