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Is "At" Capitalized in a Title?

Andy Feliciotti·2 min read

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No. "At" is a two-letter preposition, and all six major style guides keep it lowercase in the middle of a title. It is one of the few words where AP, APA, Chicago, MLA, AMA, and Bluebook agree completely.

"At" by Style Guide

Style guide"At" mid-titleWhy
APLowercasePrepositions of three or fewer letters stay lowercase
APALowercaseShort prepositions (three or fewer letters) stay lowercase
ChicagoLowercasePrepositions are lowercase at any length
MLALowercasePrepositions are lowercase at any length
AMALowercasePrepositions of three or fewer letters stay lowercase
BluebookLowercasePrepositions of four or fewer letters stay lowercase

Examples in Chicago Style

  • A Night at the Museum
  • Breakfast at the Diner on Main Street
  • Why We Work at Home
  • Dinner at Eight

Each of those headlines comes out the same in AP, APA, Chicago, and MLA, because the only small words in them are articles and short prepositions.

When "At" Is Capitalized

  • First word: "At Home With the Garden" (AP style) or "At Home with the Garden" (Chicago).
  • Last word: AP, Chicago, and MLA capitalize the final word, so "Where It's At" ends with a capital. APA has no last-word rule, so it keeps a short final preposition lowercase.
  • First word of a subtitle: "Remote Work: At Home and Abroad" capitalizes "At" after the colon.

Mixing Up "At" and "It"

"At" and "it" look alike but follow different rules. "It" is a pronoun, so every guide capitalizes it: "Make It Work" versus "Meet at Noon." Other two-letter words depend on their job in the title. "As" is the trickiest, because the guides treat it differently when it works as a conjunction.

Real Titles With "At"

  • Night at the Museum (2006 film)
  • Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote)
  • Midnight at the Well of Souls (Jack L. Chalker)

All three keep "at" lowercase mid-title, which matches every major guide.

"At" in Sentence Case

APA reference lists, many news sites, and most UI text use sentence case instead of title case. There, only the first word and proper nouns get capitals, so "at" is lowercase unless it starts the title: "A night at the museum." Pick one of the two styles for a whole set of headings rather than mixing them.

Quick Answers

Should "at" be capitalized in a title?

No, not in the middle of a title. All six major guides lowercase short prepositions like "at."

Is "at" capitalized in APA style?

No. APA lowercases prepositions of three letters or fewer, and "at" has two.

Is "at" capitalized after a colon?

Yes. The first word of a subtitle is capitalized in every guide, so "Remote Work: At Home and Abroad."

Is "at" capitalized at the end of a title?

In AP, Chicago, and MLA, yes, because they capitalize the last word. APA keeps it lowercase.