Free SEO Tool
Title Case Converter
Capitalize any title correctly in AP, APA, Chicago or MLA style. Converts as you type, highlights every word it changed, and leaves acronyms like SEO and names like iPhone alone.
0 characters, 0 words
How this title case generator works
Three steps, and the first one is most of it:
Paste your title
It converts as you type, so there is no button to press and nothing to wait for.
Pick a style
AP, APA, Chicago or MLA, plus sentence case, UPPERCASE and lowercase. Switch between them to see the same title cased four different ways.
Copy the result
Every word we changed is highlighted, so you can see what the style rule actually did rather than trusting it blindly.
Why the same title comes out differently
Every style capitalizes the first word, the last word and all major words. They disagree about exactly one thing, and it is prepositions.
AP and APA decide by word length: any word of four or more letters is capitalized, prepositions included. Chicago and MLA decide by part of speech: a preposition stays lowercase however long it is. That single difference is why the same five words come out two different ways.
If you specifically need an ap title case converter, select AP in the style menu above. Journalism and press releases almost always follow AP, while APA and MLA turn up in academic writing and Chicago in book and long-form publishing.
| Style | Decides by | Kept lowercase | The same title |
|---|---|---|---|
| AP | By word length | Words of three letters or fewer, plus all articles and coordinating conjunctions | A Movie About a Boy |
| APA | By word length | Words of three letters or fewer, plus all articles and coordinating conjunctions | A Movie About a Boy |
| Chicago | By part of speech | All prepositions at any length, plus articles and coordinating conjunctions | A Movie about a Boy |
| MLA | By part of speech | All prepositions at any length, plus articles and coordinating conjunctions | A Movie about a Boy |
Which words are not capitalized
The lowercase list is short. Everything not on it is a major word and gets a capital.
Articles
a, an and the, in every style, unless the article opens or closes the title.
Coordinating conjunctions
and, but, or, nor, for, yet and so. These stay lowercase in all four styles even though several are three or four letters long.
Short prepositions
of, in, on, at, to, by and up stay lowercase everywhere. Longer ones like about, through and between are where the styles disagree.
But always the first and last word
Every style capitalizes the opening and closing word whatever it is, so a title ending in a preposition gets it capitalized: What It Is All About.
And always after a colon
A colon starts a new clause, so the word after it is capitalized in every style.
Acronyms keep their case
SEO stays SEO rather than becoming Seo, and iPhone and eBay keep their internal capitals. Many converters get this wrong and it is the most visible way one looks broken.
When not to use title case
Title case is a headline convention. Used outside headlines it makes writing harder to read, not more professional.
- 1Body copy and sentences. Title case is for titles. Applying it inside a paragraph makes text harder to read, because capitals are one of the cues a reader uses to find the start of a sentence.
- 2Most user interface labels. Modern interface guidelines from both Google and Apple favour sentence case for buttons and menu items. It reads faster at small sizes and looks less shouty.
- 3Meta descriptions. These are sentences shown under your result in search, so sentence case is correct. Title case here reads as though the description was written by a machine.
- 4German nouns and other languages. These rules are for English. Capitalization conventions differ by language, and applying English title case to another language will simply be wrong.
- 5When your publication has a house style. If you write for someone with a style guide, their rules beat any general convention. Use the style selector to match whichever one they follow.
Using this online title case converter for SEO
Capitalization does not affect rankings. Google does not read "The Best SEO Tools" and "The best seo tools" differently. What it affects is whether a result looks credible enough to click, and click-through rate is worth caring about. A title case converter tool is worth reaching for at the point a headline is otherwise finished.
So treat this as a finishing step. Write the title first with the SEO Title Generator, pressure-test how it reads with the Headline Analyzer, then check it is not truncated in results with the SERP Preview. Case it last.
Title case converter FAQ
How do you capitalize a title?
Capitalize the first word, the last word, and every major word in between, meaning nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Leave articles, coordinating conjunctions and short prepositions lowercase. The complication is that styles disagree about longer prepositions, which is why the converter above asks which style you are writing for.
Do I capitalize the word "my"?
Yes. "My" is a possessive pronoun, and pronouns are major words in every style, so it is capitalized wherever it appears in a title. The same goes for "your", "his", "her", "its", "our" and "their". Only articles, coordinating conjunctions and prepositions are lowercased.
How do I check my title capitalization?
Paste it into the converter above and pick your style. Every word it changes is highlighted, so you can see exactly which capitalization decisions were wrong rather than just receiving a corrected string. If nothing highlights, your title already matched that style.
Is it capitalise or capitalize?
Both are correct, just in different places. "Capitalize" is the American spelling and "capitalise" is the British one. AP, APA, Chicago and MLA are all American style guides, so they use the -ize form. The capitalization rules themselves are identical either way.
Can you give me an example of title case?
A clear one is "The Lord of the Rings". The first and last words are capitalized, "Lord" and "Rings" are nouns so they are capitalized, and "of" and "the" stay lowercase because they are a preposition and an article. Sentence case for the same string would be "The lord of the rings".
What is a title case example?
Try the same title across styles to see where they differ: "A Movie About a Boy" is correct in AP and APA, while "A Movie about a Boy" is correct in Chicago and MLA. The only difference is the word "about", and the reason is explained in the comparison table above.
How to make a title case?
Either apply the rules by hand, capitalizing the first word, last word and all major words, or paste the title into the tool above and let it apply the rules for whichever style you need. Doing it by hand is fine for one title and error-prone across a set of them, particularly around four-letter prepositions.
How can I easily convert text to title case?
Paste it into the converter at the top of this page. It converts as you type, needs no account, and handles the parts people usually get wrong, including acronyms, words after a colon, and hyphenated compounds.
Can I convert text to title case online?
Yes, that is exactly what this page does, free and with no sign-up. Everything happens in your browser, so the title you paste is never sent to a server.
What is the title case in word?
Microsoft Word has a Change Case button on the Home tab with a "Capitalize Each Word" option. Be careful with it: it capitalizes every word including "of", "the" and "and", which no style guide actually wants. It is uppercase-everything rather than real title case, which is why a rules-aware converter gives a different and more correct result.
What is a title case in APA?
APA capitalizes the first word, the last word, any word after a colon, and all major words. Its distinguishing rule is length-based: words of four letters or more are capitalized even when they are prepositions, so "About" and "Through" are capitalized while "of" and "in" are not. Select APA above to apply this.
What is the title case in MLA?
MLA capitalizes the first word, the last word, and all principal words, and it lowercases articles, coordinating conjunctions and prepositions regardless of how long they are. That last part is the difference from APA: MLA writes "about" in lowercase where APA writes "About". MLA is effectively the same as Chicago for this purpose.
Which words do I not capitalize in a title?
Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so), and prepositions. How prepositions are treated is the one place styles split: AP and APA capitalize any preposition of four or more letters, while Chicago and MLA keep every preposition lowercase. None of this applies to the first or last word, which is always capitalized.
What parts of a title should not be capitalized?
The minor words listed above, and nothing else. A common mistake is lowercasing short verbs such as "is", "be" and "are" because they look small. Verbs are major words and are always capitalized, so "What Is SEO" is correct and "What is SEO" is not.
How to determine title case?
Ask two questions of each word. Is it the first or last word, or does it follow a colon? If so, capitalize it. Otherwise, is it an article, a coordinating conjunction or a preposition? If so, lowercase it, subject to your style's rule on preposition length. Everything else is a major word and gets capitalized.
When not to use title case?
Avoid it in body copy, in most interface labels, and in meta descriptions, all of which read better in sentence case. Modern interface guidance from Google and Apple favours sentence case for buttons and menus. Title case belongs in headlines, article titles, book and film titles, and citations.
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