Quick Answer
Why "With" Gets Capitalized
"With" is a preposition – a word that shows the relationship between a noun and another element in the sentence ("coffee with milk," "a book with a blue cover"). Prepositions are one of those word categories that title case rules single out for special treatment.
Most style guides don't lowercase all prepositions equally. Instead, they use word length as the deciding factor. AP, APA, and MLA all draw the line at four letters: anything shorter stays lowercase, anything four letters or longer gets capitalized. "With" has exactly four letters, so it lands on the capitalize side.
Chicago takes a different approach. The 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style lowercased all prepositions in titles regardless of length. The 18th edition (2024) updated the rule: now only prepositions of four letters or fewer are lowercase, while prepositions of five or more letters get capitalized. Either way, "with" at four letters stays lowercase in Chicago style.
By Style Guide
| Style Guide | “with” in middle of title? | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| AP | Capitalize | Capitalize words of four or more letters |
| APA | Capitalize | Capitalize words of four or more letters |
| Chicago | Lowercase | Lowercase prepositions of four or fewer letters (18th ed.) |
| MLA | Capitalize | Capitalize words of four or more letters |
The reason "with" trips people up is that it sits right on the boundary. Three-letter prepositions like "for" and "yet" are lowercase in every major style guide. But at four letters, "with" crosses the threshold in AP, APA, and MLA. If you're not following a specific style guide, the safest choice is to capitalize "with." Three out of four major guides agree on this, and it's what most readers expect to see.
Examples
✓ Do
- Cooking With Fresh Herbs
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
- Working With Remote Teams
- Dealing With Stress in College
✗ Do not
cooking with fresh herbs
No title case applied — first word must be capitalized at minimum
Cooking WITH Fresh Herbs
All-caps preposition — never correct in any style guide
Chicago style (also correct)
- Cooking with Fresh Herbs
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Edge Cases
A few situations where the standard rules shift:
- "With" as the first word. Every style guide agrees: capitalize the first word of a title, no exceptions. "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" — ✓ (all styles).
- "With" as the last word. AP, APA, Chicago, and MLA all require capitalizing the last word of a title. "The Team I Work With" — ✓ (all styles).
- "With" after a colon or dash. Most style guides treat the word after a colon as the start of a new title segment. Capitalize "with" after a colon in all styles. "Remote Work: With the Right Tools, It's Easy" — ✓.
- "With" in a hyphenated compound. If "with" appears in a hyphenated word in a title (rare), capitalize it in AP, APA, and MLA. Chicago lowercases it.
Frequently Asked Questions
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About Oleh Kovalenko
Oleh Kovalenko develops practical capitalization guidance for editorial and SEO workflows, with a focus on consistent rule application.
