Title case rules,
with examples

Title case, sentence case, or every word?

Title case capitalizes the main words in a heading or title, while some smaller words stay lowercase. Sentence case looks like ordinary sentence capitalization. Capitalize Words is a mechanical transformation that gives every word an initial capital, including words such as of and the.

Here is the same input in the three CaseConvert.pro modes. These are actual converter results using the default English setting.

Title case can suit book titles, article headings, and presentation titles when that is the chosen house style. Sentence case can suit instructions, interface labels, and everyday headings. Google’s developer documentation, for example, uses sentence case for its titles and headings; that is a rule for those documents, not a Google Search ranking requirement. See Google’s capitalization guidance.

How title case works

A useful starting point for English title capitalization is to capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Articles, some conjunctions, and some prepositions often stay lowercase. The exact treatment of those smaller words depends on the editorial convention.

Short words are not automatically lowercase

A word’s job matters. Is and are are verbs; we is a pronoun. Their length does not make them unimportant. In a general title such as Why Is This the Right Time, Is gets a capital, while the remains lowercase.

The first and last words need attention

CaseConvert.pro’s Title Case mode always capitalizes the first and last word of the entire input, even if that word normally appears in its lowercase list. For example, What Are We Waiting For ends with a capitalized For. A formal assignment may have a more specific rule; follow the style you were asked to use.

The converter uses a general English convention

CaseConvert.pro first lowercases the input, then capitalizes word initials. In Title Case it leaves the following words lowercase when they occur between the first and last word:

a, an, and, as, at, but, by, for, in, nor, of, on, or, per, so, the, to, via, vs, yet

This fixed list makes the transformation predictable. It does not identify parts of speech or look up an editorial standard. For example, Working With a Small Team capitalizes With because with is not in the list.

Subtitles and separate lines need a separate review

A colon can introduce a subtitle. Editorial rules may call for a capital at that new beginning, but the tool’s Title Case mode does not restart its first-word rule after a colon. Converting copy: a guide to clearer writing produces Copy: a Guide to Clearer Writing. If your convention capitalizes the subtitle’s first word, edit this to Copy: A Guide to Clearer Writing.

Likewise, Title Case treats multiple lines as one input for its first-and-last-word rule. In the example below, the second line begins with lowercase and. Convert separate headings individually or review each line’s beginning and end.

A Guide to Writing
and a Checklist for Editors

Sentence case keeps the heading closer to prose

In edited English, sentence case capitalizes the beginning and keeps names and other terms in their required form. For example, a carefully edited heading could read A guide to NASA missions. The ordinary words stay lowercase, while the acronym keeps its established capitals.

The CaseConvert.pro mode is a simpler operation: it lowercases the input, then capitalizes the first letter and the first letter after a period, exclamation mark, question mark, or line break. It does not recognize names, acronyms, or grammatical sentences.

Ready? Let's begin.
A new line

Review periods inside abbreviations and addresses. For example, dr. lee writes at example.com becomes Dr. Lee writes at example.Com. The capital in Com is the punctuation rule at work; it is not an editorial correction. Restore the address to example.com and check the person’s name.

The mode also does not capitalize the word after a colon automatically. APA’s sentence-case guidance calls for a capital at the start of a subtitle, so an APA reference title may require manual editing after conversion. That is one reason “sentence case” as a writing convention and the software button are not interchangeable. See APA’s sentence-case guidance.

Capitalize Words means every word

Choose Capitalize Words when the intended pattern really is an initial capital for every word. It does not make exceptions for articles or prepositions, so the art of writing becomes The Art Of Writing.

Like Title Case, this mode lowercases the rest of each word first. It is not a way to preserve the original spelling of acronyms or brands. Apostrophes within a word stay inside it: don't stop believing becomes Don't Stop Believing, not an extra capital after the apostrophe.

Hyphens separate the word pieces that the converter capitalizes. Compare the two results below. These are the tool’s general rules, rather than a claim about how every editorial guide handles compound words.

For most ordinary paragraphs, capitalizing every word will depart from normal prose conventions. Use it deliberately for a required label or design treatment, rather than treating it as a universal correction.

General title capitalization and editorial styles

CaseConvert.pro does not implement certified APA, AP, MLA, or Chicago capitalization presets. Its Title Case button applies the fixed general-purpose rule described above. A result can happen to match a style’s example without making the tool compliant with that whole style.

Editorial conventions answer more than “which letters are uppercase?” They can specify where title case belongs, how to treat a subtitle, what counts as a small word, and how to handle compounds. Use the current edition or your organization’s documented house style.

For AP work, consult the AP Stylebook’s composition titles entry (access may require a subscription). For MLA work, consult the current MLA Handbook. This guide does not substitute a complete rule table for either standard.

Language matters too. English capitalization advice should not be applied automatically to every language. CaseConvert.pro’s language setting changes letter-case mapping, but its Title Case lowercase-word list remains English. Check the manual’s language rules before converting another language.

Common capitalization mistakes to catch

1. Treating every short word as a small word

Do not lowercase is, be, or we only because they are short. Ask what the word does in the title and what your selected convention requires.

2. Expecting names and acronyms to survive conversion

All three modes discussed here lowercase text before adding capitals. The input NASA and iPhone in New York produces the Title Case result Nasa and Iphone in New York. A manually reviewed version restores NASA and iPhone in New York. Sentence case needs the same review for proper names, even when the surrounding words should be lowercase.

3. Forgetting the pronoun “I”

Ordinary English uses a capital I. The Sentence case input how i use SQL becomes How i use sql. Manually restore How I use SQL. This mode does not perform grammar correction.

4. Assuming a colon or line break always starts a new title

Review subtitles and pasted lists of headings. Title Case’s first-and-last-word exceptions apply to the entire input. Sentence case restarts after a line break, but not after a colon. These are different rules.

5. Using one capitalization shortcut for every destination

A document’s heading, a title in a reference list, and a button label can follow different conventions. Decide where the text will appear before selecting a mode. Consistency means applying the same rule to comparable items, rather than forcing every kind of text into one pattern.

A practical review workflow

1. Identify the requirement. Note the publication’s style, assignment instructions, or team convention. If it specifies an edition, use that edition.
2. Keep the original. Paste your text into Your text in the Case Converter. Use one heading at a time when first-and-last-word treatment matters.
3. Choose the closest mode. Use Title Case for the general main-word pattern, Sentence case for prose-style capitalization, or Capitalize Words for every-word initials.
4. Review before copying. Check names, brands, acronyms, “I,” subtitles, hyphens, abbreviations, addresses, and the beginning and end of each heading. Apply any required editorial exceptions.
5. Copy or download the result. The app’s Result is read-only. Make editorial corrections in your destination editor. If you choose Use as input to edit the converted wording, copy your corrected text directly from the source editor; live conversion can remove those corrections from Result.

Switching conversion modes uses the original text in the editor; it does not repeatedly transform the last result. The manual’s quick start explains that behavior, and its export section covers TXT, Markdown, and JSON downloads.

Practice: choose the rule, then review

Use these original examples to check whether you can distinguish a converter result from a finished editorial choice.

References and further reading

The examples in this guide are original. Converter outputs were checked against CaseConvert.pro’s current source on October 10, 2026, using the default English setting. Manually reviewed wording is identified separately from the tool’s output.

• CaseConvert.pro manual: conversion modes and limitations — the tool’s general Title Case convention, word list, and review requirements.
• APA Style: title case capitalization and sentence case capitalization — formal rules and their contexts.
• Chicago Manual of Style: capitalization of prepositions — the 18th-edition rule for longer prepositions.
• Google developer documentation: capitalization — one example of a documented sentence-case house style.
• AP Stylebook: composition titles and MLA Handbook — consult the required standard when working in those styles.