AP Style Title Case Rules: A Complete Guide

If you write headlines for a newspaper, blog, or any publication that follows Associated Press guidelines, getting AP title case right matters. The AP Stylebook has its own specific set of rules that differ from Chicago, MLA, and APA styles - and the differences trip up even experienced writers.

This guide covers every AP style title case rule you need to know, with plenty of real examples. And when you're done reading, you can use our free headline capitalizer to instantly format any headline in AP style.

What Is AP Style Title Case?

AP style title case is the capitalization format recommended by the Associated Press Stylebook, the standard reference for journalists and news organizations across the United States. The AP Stylebook has been guiding newsroom writing since 1953, and its title case rules are widely used beyond journalism - in marketing copy, blog posts, press releases, and online publishing.

The central idea behind AP title case is straightforward: capitalize "major" words and lowercase "minor" words. But what counts as major or minor? That's where the specific rules come in.

The Core Rules of AP Title Case

Here are the foundational rules for AP style headline capitalization:

1. Capitalize the first word of the title, no matter what it is.
2. Capitalize the last word of the title, no matter what it is.
3. Capitalize all "major" words - nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns.
4. Lowercase "minor" words - articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions - but only if they are three letters or fewer.
5. Capitalize any word with four or more letters, even if it would normally be considered a "minor" word.

That last rule is the distinguishing feature of AP style. While Chicago style lowercases short prepositions regardless of length, AP style uses a clear four-letter cutoff. If the word has four or more letters, capitalize it. Period.

Words You Always Capitalize in AP Style

These categories of words are always capitalized in AP title case, regardless of where they appear in the headline:

A common mistake is lowercasing short verbs like "is," "be," or "do" because they look like small, unimportant words. In AP style (and every other major style), verbs are always capitalized no matter how short they are.

Words You Keep Lowercase

Only three categories of words get lowercased in AP title case, and only when they're three letters or fewer:

Remember: even these words get capitalized when they're the first or last word of the title. "The" is normally lowercase, but if your headline starts with it, you capitalize it.

The Four-Letter Rule: AP Style's Signature

This is the rule that sets AP style apart from other capitalization styles. In AP title case, any word with four or more letters gets capitalized, even prepositions and conjunctions that other styles would lowercase.

That means these words are capitalized in AP style but lowercased in Chicago style:

This four-letter threshold makes AP style one of the more capitalization-heavy styles. When in doubt about a word, count the letters. Four or more? Capitalize it.

Tricky Cases and Exceptions

Most headlines follow the rules above without any trouble. But a few situations come up regularly that catch writers off guard:

Hyphenated Words

When a hyphenated compound appears in a headline, capitalize both parts if they are major words. For example: "Full-Time" and "Well-Known" both get both parts capitalized. If the second part is a minor word like an article or preposition under four letters, it stays lowercase: "Runner-up."

Verbs That Look Like Prepositions

Words like "up," "off," and "out" can function as prepositions or as part of phrasal verbs. In AP style, when they're part of a verb phrase, they're capitalized because they modify the verb's meaning. "Give Up Hope" vs. "a walk up the hill" - the first "Up" is part of the verb "give up" and gets capitalized.

The Word "To" Before Infinitives

"To" as a preposition stays lowercase in AP style (it's only two letters). This applies even when it introduces an infinitive verb: "How to Write Better Headlines." The "to" stays lowercase while "Write" is capitalized.

Words After Colons

In AP style, the first word after a colon is capitalized if it begins a complete sentence. If the text after the colon is not a full sentence, the first word is lowercase (unless it's a proper noun or word that would be capitalized anyway).

• Complete sentence: Breaking News: The Mayor Announces a New Plan
• Not a complete sentence: Election Results: a Closer Look at the Data

AP Style Title Case Examples

Seeing the rules applied to real headlines is the fastest way to internalize them. Here are some before-and-after examples:

AP Style vs. Other Capitalization Styles

One of the most common sources of confusion is mixing up AP style with other capitalization formats like the Chicago Manual of Style or APA style guidelines. The biggest differences come down to how each style handles prepositions and conjunctions. Here's a quick comparison:

The biggest practical difference you'll notice between AP and Chicago style is how they treat four-letter prepositions. In AP, "With the Help From Others" capitalizes both "With" and "From." In Chicago, those same words would be lowercase: "With the Help from Others." This is why it matters to know which style your publication or professor requires.

Not sure which style to use? Our headline capitalization tool supports all four major styles - just select the one you need and type your headline.

Common AP Title Case Mistakes

After years of seeing headline capitalization errors, these are the mistakes that come up the most:

Quick Reference

Here's a summary you can bookmark for quick reference when writing AP style headlines:

AP style title case becomes second nature once you internalize the four-letter rule. For everything else, there's our headline capitalizer tool - it handles all the edge cases automatically so you can focus on writing great headlines instead of worrying about which words to capitalize.