Which Words Do You Capitalize in a Title? (Simple Rules + Examples)

Should it be “The Lord Of The Rings” or “The Lord of the Rings”? If you have ever stared at a title wondering which words get capital letters, you are not alone — thousands of people search this exact question every day. This guide gives you the simple rules, a word-by-word cheat sheet, real examples and the common mistakes to avoid, so you never have to guess again.

The Short Answer

In Title Case, you capitalize the first word, the last word, and all the main words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns). You keep the small joining words in lowercase when they sit in the middle of the title: articles (a, an, the), short prepositions (in, on, at, of, to, by) and joining words (and, but, or).

The 5 Title Case Rules

Rule 1 — Always capitalize the first word, even if it is a small word: “A Tale of Two Cities” starts with a capital A.
Rule 2 — Always capitalize the last word too: “What to Do When Your Flight Gets Cancelled” ends with a capital C on “Cancelled”.
Rule 3 — Capitalize all main words: nouns (Guide, Bread), verbs (Bake, Is, Are), adjectives (Ultimate, Happy) and adverbs (Quickly, Very).
Rule 4 — Keep small joining words lowercase in the middle: a, an, the, and, but, or, in, on, at, of, to, by, up.
Rule 5 — Capitalize the word after a colon: “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” — the second “The” is capitalized because it follows the colon.

Word-by-Word Cheat Sheet

Here are the words people ask about most. These answers are for the middle of a title — remember, the first and last words are always capitalized no matter what:

the — NO. “The Cat in the Hat”, not “The Cat In The Hat”.
a / an — NO. “A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Tomatoes at Home”.
and / but / or — NO. “War and Peace” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” keep them small in the middle.
in / on / at / of / to / by / up — NO. These short prepositions stay lowercase in every major style guide.
with / from / over — IT DEPENDS. Chicago and APA capitalize words of four letters or more, so you get “Gone With the Wind”. AP style keeps them small: “Gone with the Wind”. Both are correct — pick one style and stay consistent.
is / are / was — YES. They are verbs, and verbs are always capitalized: “What Is Title Case”.
it / you / your / i — YES. Pronouns are capitalized in Title Case: “10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Buying a House”.
not — YES. It is an adverb, and adverbs are capitalized: “To Be or Not to Be”.

How the Famous Style Guides Differ

If you write for a school, a newspaper or a journal, you may have to follow one of the big style guides. The good news: they agree on almost everything above. The only real difference is the four-letter question. APA and Chicago capitalize every word of four letters or more, including “With”, “From” and “Over”. AP (most newspapers) capitalizes main words but keeps short prepositions small, and only capitalizes a preposition when it has four or more letters too — AP actually follows a similar length rule for prepositions, so differences in practice are small. MLA follows the simple version: capitalize main words, keep articles, prepositions and conjunctions small unless they start or end the title. For everyday writing — blogs, videos, essays — any of these is fine; consistency matters more than the choice.

Examples: Before and After

“the ultimate guide to baking bread for beginners” becomes “The Ultimate Guide to Baking Bread for Beginners”.
“how to read a book and remember everything” becomes “How to Read a Book and Remember Everything”.
“the lion, the witch and the wardrobe” becomes “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”.
“a guide to the best cities in the world” becomes “A Guide to the Best Cities in the World”.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Capitalizing every word. “The Ultimate Guide To Baking Bread” looks wrong to trained eyes because “To” should stay small.
Forgetting the last word. A title ending in a small word still capitalizes it: “What Are You Looking For” — “For” is the last word, so it is capitalized.
Lowercasing the word after a colon. Subtitles start fresh: “Dune: Part Two”, not “Dune: part two”.
Breaking brand names. Names like iPhone, eBay and YouTube keep their own unusual capitals in any style — never “normalize” them.
Mixing styles in one document. If one heading is Title Case, all headings should be. Mixed headings look careless even when each one is individually correct.

The Easiest Way: Let a Tool Do It

Memorizing rules is fine for one title, but if you format headings every day, the fastest method is to paste your title into our free Case Converter and click Title Case. It applies all of these rules automatically — the first word, the last word, the word after a colon, and small joining words kept lowercase — in one click. Try it here: https://convertictools.com/tools/case-converter/

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you capitalize “the” in a title? Only when it is the first or last word. In the middle, “the” stays lowercase.

Q: Is “is” capitalized in a title? Yes. “Is” is a verb, and verbs are always capitalized in Title Case.

Q: What words are not capitalized in a title? Articles (a, an, the), short prepositions (in, on, at, of, to) and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) — when they appear in the middle of the title.

Q: How do I capitalize hyphenated words? Capitalize the first part, and treat the rest by the normal rules: “Mother-in-Law” keeps “in” small because it is a preposition.

Q: Does every style agree? Almost. The only common disagreement is words like “with” and “from”: Chicago and APA capitalize them, AP keeps them small.

Want matching, professional-looking titles every time? Run them through the Case Converter once — and if you are choosing between styles, read our guide on sentence case vs title case next.

Try the dedicated Title Case Converter tool →

Not sure which style your headline should use at all? Our guide to sentence case vs title case shows both styles side by side.