Every sample below is rendered by the generator itself, at 3/4 inch line height — not stock images.
How tall a capital letter is, as a fraction of the font's em square. The generator sizes type so a capital fills exactly one line — which is why the number differs per style but the printed line height never does.
Where lowercase letters land. Three-line practice paper expects lowercase to reach the midline, so this ratio needs to sit near 0.5. All four styles here do.
A well-known reading font, Andika, measures 0.70 — its lowercase would overshoot the midline by about 40%, so it isn't offered here even though it is otherwise excellent for early readers.
A dashed outline traces the letter's contour. Cursive contours are long curves, so dashes read as one continuous path. Print contours are two straight edges running close together — dashes chop them into fragments. The tool switches print styles to a hollow outline for that reason.
Every number here was measured off the font file itself, not copied from a spec sheet. Cap height and x-height are read from the glyph outlines; the ratio decides whether a style can sit correctly on three-line practice paper.
| Font | Cap height | x-height | x ÷ cap | Used here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playwrite US Trad · OFL | 1.015em | 0.519em | 0.511 | Yes |
| Edu NSW ACT Foundation · OFL | 0.772em | 0.416em | 0.539 | Yes |
| Edu AU VIC WA NT Hand · OFL | 0.928em | 0.503em | 0.542 | Yes |
| Edu AU VIC WA NT Arrows · OFL | 0.928em | 0.506em | 0.546 | Yes |
| Andika · OFL | 0.713em | 0.498em | 0.699 | No — lowercase would overshoot the midline by about 40% |
Three-line paper wants lowercase to land on the midline, so x ÷ cap needs to sit near 0.5. The four styles offered here measure 0.511 to 0.545. Andika measures 0.699 — an excellent font for early readers, but its lowercase would rise about 40% past the midline, so it isn't offered for lined practice.
| If… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Your child is just learning letter shapes | Upright Print |
| The school teaches a slanted style with exit strokes | Slanted Print |
| Your child starts letters in the wrong place | Print with Stroke Arrows |
| Grade 2–3, moving on to joined writing | Traditional Cursive |
If you're not sure, look at a worksheet that came home from school and match the shape of the lowercase a and g — single-storey or double-storey is the fastest tell.