Capitalization in Titles: Words That Are Not Capitalized
Three groups of words stay lowercase in a title: articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) and short prepositions (at, by, in, of, on, to, up, as, via). Everything else is capitalized — and the first and last word are capitalized no matter what they are.
That single exception is what trips people up. What Are You Waiting For capitalizes For, because it ends the title. A Tale of Two Cities capitalizes A, because it starts it. This guide gives the complete lists, the boundary cases, and where the four style guides disagree.
Let the rules run themselves. The free case converter has a Title Case option built on Chicago Manual of Style rules: short words stay lowercase, the first and last word are capitalized, and acronyms survive intact.
The complete lists
| Category | Words that stay lowercase | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Articles | a, an, the | 3 |
| Coordinating conjunctions | and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet | 7 |
| Prepositions of 2 letters | as, at, by, in, of, on, to, up | 8 |
| Prepositions of 3 letters | off, out, per, via | 4 |
Grouped as one list, these are the words to leave alone in the middle of a title:
a, an, the, and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet, as, at, by, in, of, on, to, up, off, out, per, via
The first and last word rule
Whatever the word is, the first and last word of a title take a capital. This overrides every list above.
| Title | Why |
|---|---|
| A Tale of Two Cities | A is an article, but it opens the title |
| What Are You Waiting For | For is a conjunction, but it closes the title |
| The Things We Dream Of | both ends capitalized |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | To opens the title |
The same applies after a colon or a dash inside a title: the word that follows starts a new unit and takes a capital. The Guide: A New Beginning.
Long prepositions are capitalized
The lists above stop at short words for a reason. Prepositions of five letters or more are capitalized in AP and APA style, and Chicago capitalizes them when they carry weight in the sentence.
| Preposition | Letters | Chicago | AP | MLA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| of, to, in, on, at, by | 2 | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| for, off, out, per, via | 3 | lowercase | lowercase | lowercase |
| with, from, into, over, upon, down | 4 | lowercase | Capitalized | lowercase |
| about, above, after, among, under | 5 | Capitalized | Capitalized | lowercase |
| through, between, against, without | 7+ | Capitalized | Capitalized | lowercase |
MLA is the outlier: it keeps every preposition lowercase regardless of length. AP draws the line at four letters. Chicago goes by function rather than a strict count, which in practice puts the line at about the same place. The wider comparison of these guides is in should all letters in a title be capitalized.
Words that look like exceptions but are not
| Word | Capitalized? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Is, Are, Was, Be | Yes | Verbs, however short |
| It, He, She, We, You | Yes | Pronouns |
| Not | Yes | Adverb |
| If, Once, Since, Than, That, When, While | Yes | Subordinating conjunctions, not coordinating |
| as | No | Treated as a short function word |
| Up (in a phrasal verb) | Yes | Look Up the Answer — up is part of the verb |
| up (as a preposition) | No | Walk up the Hill |
The to question. Both the infinitive marker and the preposition stay lowercase in the middle of a title: How to Build a House, A Walk to the Sea. There is no style guide that capitalizes to in mid-title, which is why How To Build A House is always wrong.
Right and wrong, side by side
| Wrong | Right |
|---|---|
| The Lord Of The Rings | The Lord of the Rings |
| How To Change Case In Excel | How to Change Case in Excel |
| Gone With The Wind | Gone with the Wind |
| A Tale Of Two Cities | A Tale of Two Cities |
| What Are You Waiting for | What Are You Waiting For |
| Salt And Pepper | Salt and Pepper |
| The Best Html Editor | The Best HTML Editor |
| Meet Me At 3 P.m. In The Park | Meet Me at 3 p.m. in the Park |
Hyphenated words
Capitalize both halves: A Well-Known Secret, The Twenty-First Century, Self-Made Millionaire. Chicago makes one exception: after a prefix that cannot stand alone, the second part stays lowercase — Anti-inflammatory Drugs, Re-entry Procedures.
Why Microsoft Word gets this wrong
Word’s Capitalize Each Word option does exactly what its name says: it capitalizes every word, including of, to and the. That is not Title Case and matches no published style guide. Word has no true Title Case option, which is why titles produced with that menu item always look slightly off.
A converter with a proper minor-word list, first-and-last-word handling and acronym protection produces the correct result in one click. The Word procedure itself is covered in changing lowercase to uppercase in Word.
When to skip Title Case entirely
For web headlines, app labels, email subject lines and scientific paper titles, sentence case is now the standard: capitalize the first word and proper nouns only, and leave the rest alone. It sidesteps this entire list of exceptions. The rules are in sentence case explained, and the general capitalization rules that apply in either style are in capitalization rules in writing.
Title Case in one click, exceptions included. The upper lower case converter keeps of, to and the lowercase, capitalizes the first and last word, preserves HTML and iPhone, and handles hyphenated words. Twelve styles, free, no sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
Which words are not capitalized in titles?
Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) and short prepositions (as, at, by, in, of, on, to, up, off, out, per, via) stay lowercase in the middle of a title.
Is the first word always capitalized in a title?
Yes. The first word and the last word of a title are always capitalized, even if they are articles, conjunctions or prepositions.
Do you capitalize to in a title?
Not in the middle. How to Build a House is correct. Capitalize it only when it is the first or last word of the title.
Do you capitalize is in a title?
Yes. Is is a verb, and verbs are always capitalized in Title Case regardless of length.
Is with capitalized in a title?
It depends on the guide. AP and APA capitalize prepositions of four letters or more, so they write With. Chicago and MLA leave it lowercase.
How many words are not capitalized in title case?
About 22 in the common lists: three articles, seven coordinating conjunctions and roughly twelve short prepositions. Longer prepositions are capitalized in most guides.
Do you capitalize the word after a colon?
Yes. Every major style guide capitalizes the first word after a colon inside a title.
Why does Microsoft Word capitalize every word?
Because its menu option is called Capitalize Each Word, not Title Case. It has no minor-word list, so it capitalizes of, to and the along with everything else.
The short version
Leave articles, coordinating conjunctions and short prepositions lowercase in the middle of a title. Capitalize the first word, the last word, the word after a colon, every verb including Is, every pronoun, and every preposition of five letters or more. Keep acronyms and brand names exactly as they are. And never use the Capitalize Each Word option in Word for a headline — it follows no style guide at all.