Capital case (also called start case or “Capitalize Each Word”) is the simplest way to make text look like a heading: every word starts with a capital letter, no matter whether it is a noun, a verb or a tiny word like “of”. It is popular for product names, button labels, playlist titles, spreadsheet headers and social media posts, because the rule is mechanical and needs no style guide.
That mechanical rule is also the main difference from title case. Title case, as defined by AP, APA, Chicago or MLA, keeps short articles, conjunctions and prepositions in lowercase (“The Lord of the Rings”), while capital case would write “The Lord Of The Rings”. For formal titles of articles, books and papers, use the title case option; for labels and casual headings, capital case is fine.
The converter also lowercases the rest of each word, which repairs text typed with Caps Lock on. If your text contains acronyms like NASA or product names like iPhone, set “Keep words already in ALL CAPS” to yes and they stay untouched.
How to use the Capital Case Converter
- Text to convert
- Case type
- Title case style guide
- Keep words already in ALL CAPS (NASA, Q3)?
Everything is calculated in your browser, so results appear instantly and nothing you type is sent to a server.
How it works
The text is split at whitespace; within each word the first letter (and the first letter after a hyphen, slash, bracket or opening quote) is converted to uppercase with Unicode case rules and every other letter to lowercase. Apostrophes do not start a new word, so “don’t” becomes “Don’t”.
Worked example
The text “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. it was a sunny day in new york.” becomes The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog. It Was A Sunny Day In New York. Every one of the 17 words now starts with a capital – including “the”, “a” and “in”, which title case would keep lowercase.
Capital case vs other cases
| Case | Example |
|---|---|
| Capital case | A Tale Of Two Cities |
| Title case (Chicago) | A Tale of Two Cities |
| Sentence case | A tale of two cities |
| UPPERCASE | A TALE OF TWO CITIES |
| lowercase | a tale of two cities |
Formula
Capital case: first letter of every word → uppercase, remaining letters → lowercase
Word boundaries: spaces, hyphens, slashes, opening brackets and quotes
Worked example
Inputs — Text to convert: the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. it was a sunny day in new york.; Case type: Capital Case (Every Word Capitalised); Keep words already in ALL CAPS (NASA, Q3)?: No – lowercase everything first.
Results — Converted text = The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog. It Was A Sunny Day In New York.; Your title in every style guide = Style Title (first line)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
AP The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog. It Was a Sunny Day in New York.
APA The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog. It Was a Sunny Day in New York.
Chicago The Quick Brown Fox Jumps over the Lazy Dog. It Was a Sunny Day in New York.
MLA The Quick Brown Fox Jumps over the Lazy Dog. It Was a Sunny Day in New York.
AMA The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog. It Was a Sunny Day in New York.
Bluebook The Quick Brown Fox Jumps over the Lazy Dog. It Was a Sunny Day in New York.
NYT The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog. It Was a Sunny Day in New York.; Characters = 76; Words = 17; Characters changed = 17.
Key terms
- Capital case
- Every word begins with a capital letter.
- Title case
- Major words capitalised, minor words lowercase, per a style guide.
- Sentence case
- Only the first word and proper nouns capitalised.
- Acronym
- A word formed from initials, usually written in capitals (NASA, PDF).
Frequently asked questions
What is capital case?
Writing Every Word With An Initial Capital Letter, including short words such as “of”, “the” and “a”.
Is capital case the same as title case?
No. Title case leaves minor words lowercase (“War and Peace”); capital case capitalises them too (“War And Peace”).
Does it work with accented and non-Latin letters?
Yes – é → É, ß stays ß, and Greek or Cyrillic words are capitalised as well.
How are hyphenated words handled?
Each part is capitalised: “mother-in-law” becomes “Mother-In-Law”. Title case would give “Mother-in-Law”.
Will it ruin acronyms like USA?
By default they become “Usa”. Choose “Yes – keep acronyms” to leave ALL-CAPS words as they are.
How do I capitalise each word in Word or Google Docs?
Word: Shift + F3 cycles cases; Google Docs: Format › Text › Capitalization › Title Case. This tool works for any text you can paste.
Is capital case good for SEO titles?
Search engines ignore letter case, but many publishers use title or capital case for headlines because it stands out in results.