Wide ruled paper
Eight point seven millimetres between lines — the elementary school ruling, for handwriting that needs the room.
Wide ruled is eleven thirty-seconds of an inch, or 8.73 mm, and it exists for handwriting that has not finished shrinking. Children's letterforms are physically larger than adults', not because of habit but because fine motor control develops before the fine motor precision that lets you write small, and cramming that handwriting into a college ruling produces the same illegible result every time.
It is also the ruling to choose for anyone whose vision or grip makes a tight line hard work, which is a much larger group than the elementary-school framing suggests. A millimetre and a half more between lines is the difference between a page someone can read back and one they cannot.
Wide ruled is sometimes called legal ruled, which is confusing and worth disentangling: the ruling is the same 8.7 mm, but legal-ruled pads are usually printed on legal-size paper with a double margin line down the left. The paper size and the ruling are separate choices, and both are controls on this page.
Because the sheet is generated rather than downloaded, the ruling is not the only thing you can loosen. A paler line helps a reader who finds a dark ruling competing with their own handwriting, and that is a one-click change here and impossible on a printed pad.
Lined paper by ruling
- Lined paper, any rulingThe full generator — any spacing, plus handwriting guides
- College ruled paper7.1 mm line spacing · the US default
- Narrow ruled paper6.4 mm line spacing · the tightest common ruling
Questions
What is the difference between wide ruled and college ruled?
Spacing, and nothing else. Wide ruled is 8.7 mm between lines; college ruled is 7.1 mm. Wide fits roughly a quarter fewer lines on the same sheet.
Is wide ruled the same as legal ruled?
The line spacing is the same 8.7 mm. "Legal ruled" usually also implies legal-size paper and a double margin line at the left. Paper size and ruling are separate controls here, so you can have either or both.
How do I check the ruling printed at 8.7 mm?
Ten line gaps should span 87 mm. If you get 82 or 83, the print was scaled — turn off fit to page and print at 100 percent, then measure again.
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