Two headlines, same words, different capitalization:
How to Write a Great Headline (title case) How to write a great headline (sentence case)
Both are correct. Which one you should use depends on your style guide and where the text appears. Here’s how to choose — and how to switch between them without retyping a thing.
What is title case?
In title case, you capitalize the first letter of all the major words: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. You leave short words lowercase — articles (a, an, the), short prepositions (in, on, of, to), and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) — unless they’re the first or last word.
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog
Title case is the traditional choice for book titles, headlines, and headings in American English (AP, Chicago, and MLA all use versions of it, with slightly different rules about which small words stay lowercase).
What is sentence case?
In sentence case, you capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns — exactly like a normal sentence.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Sentence case has become the default for digital interfaces, many modern brands, and most British style guides. It feels cleaner, is easier to read, and is far simpler to apply consistently.
When to use each
Use title case for:
- Book, article, and song titles
- News-style headlines
- Formal headings in academic or print work (per your style guide)
Use sentence case for:
- App and website UI (buttons, menus, labels)
- Email subject lines (feels less “shouty”)
- Modern marketing copy and most blog headings
- Anything where readability and a relaxed tone matter
The golden rule: be consistent
The worst choice is mixing both on the same page. Pick one convention for each level of heading and apply it everywhere. If your organization has a style guide, follow it; if not, default to sentence case for digital and title case for formal print.
Convert in one click
Retyping a heading just to change its capitalization is a waste of time. Paste your text into ProseTool’s case converter and switch instantly between Title Case, Sentence case, UPPERCASE, and lowercase — then copy the result.
Turning a title into a URL? The slug generator lowercases and hyphenates it into a clean, SEO-friendly slug. And if you’re cleaning up pasted text with inconsistent capitalization and spacing, run it through the text cleaner first.