Title Case vs Sentence Case: Which Should You Use?
Title case and sentence case are the two common ways to capitalize a heading. Title case capitalizes every major word and keeps short articles, conjunctions, and prepositions lowercase. Sentence case capitalizes only the first word of each sentence, the way ordinary prose is written.
The Title Case converter follows AP rules. The examples below come from the Title Case and Sentence Case converters.
Side by side
| Input | Title case | Sentence case | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| how to write better headlines for your blog | How to Write Better Headlines for Your Blog | How to write better headlines for your blog | A headline. |
| the follow-up: a review of the plan | The Follow-Up: A Review of the Plan | The follow-up: a review of the plan | A colon and a hyphenated word. |
| star wars: a new hope | Star Wars: A New Hope | Star wars: a new hope | Sentence case does not recognize the name. |
| This Title Was Written In Title Case | This Title Was Written in Title Case | This title was written in title case | Text already in title case. |
| the NASA launch is today. it starts at noon. | The NASA Launch Is Today. It Starts at Noon. | The NASA launch is today. It starts at noon. | Two sentences and an acronym. |
The rules compared
| Rule | Title case | Sentence case |
|---|---|---|
| Capitalized words | The first word, the last word, and every major word. | The first word of each sentence. |
| Short words | Articles, and conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer, stay lowercase unless they are first or last. | Lowercase unless they start a sentence. |
| After a colon | The words on both sides of a colon are capitalized. | A colon does not end a sentence, so the next word stays lowercase. |
| Proper nouns | Not detected. A name gets a capital like any major word, but an inner capital (McDonald) has to be typed. | Not detected: names typed in lowercase stay lowercase. A name typed with an inner capital (McDonald) keeps it. |
| Acronyms | Words with capitals after the first letter (NASA, iPhone) keep them on a line that is not all capitals. | Words in all capitals (NASA) and words with a capital after the first letter (iPhone, eBay) keep their casing on a line that is not all capitals. |
When to use each
Title case
Headlines and titles of books, articles, and other works, and headings in a style that capitalizes them.
Sentence case
Body text, headings and labels in a style that uses sentence-case headings, and article and book titles in an APA reference list.