Wide Ruled vs College Ruled Paper

What is the difference between wide ruled and college ruled paper?

The difference is the space between lines. Wide ruled paper has lines 11/32 inch (8.7 mm) apart. College ruled, also called medium ruled, has lines 9/32 inch (7.1 mm) apart. Narrow ruled is 1/4 inch (6.3 mm). Smaller spacing puts more lines on the same page.

Counts use 0.5 inch margins on all sides and start one line space below the top margin. A notebook sheet with a wider top margin holds fewer lines, and one with narrower margins holds more.

Which is better, wide ruled or college ruled?

Neither is better; they suit different handwriting. Wide ruled is commonly used by American children in grade school and by people with larger handwriting, according to Wikipedia. College ruled gives 6 more lines than wide ruled on a Letter page, so it suits smaller writing and note-taking.

To choose, write a line of your usual handwriting on plain paper and lay a wide ruled and a college ruled sheet beside it. The spacing that holds your tallest letters without touching the line above is the one to print. Narrow ruled suits small, tidy writing or sheets where space matters.

How many lines are on a sheet of wide ruled paper?

On a Letter page with half-inch margins, wide ruled paper has 29 lines. The same margins on A4 give 31. Wider margins give fewer lines and narrower margins give more, so set the margins in the maker to match your sheet.

How do I print wide or college ruled paper?

Open the lined paper maker, choose Wide, College or Narrow, and pick the paper size. Add the red margin line and hole guides if you want them, then download the PDF. Print at 100 percent scale, not Fit to page, so the lines keep their true spacing.

The maker draws from the exact fractions above, 24.75, 20.25 and 18 points, so the printed lines match the standard. After printing one test page, hold a ruler to the lines: eleven wide ruled spaces should span about 96 mm.

Working on math or sketches instead? The same page shape comes with squares: see the graph paper maker for 1/4 inch, 5 mm and 1 cm grids.