---
name: Leading
slug: leading
category: typography
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
definition: The vertical distance from one baseline of type to the next, which
  sets how a paragraph holds together as a block.
aliases:
  - name: line height
    source: css
  - name: line spacing
tags:
  - spacing
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - tracking
    - kerning
    - type-scale
    - measure
    - text-spacing
    - vertical-rhythm
    - half-leading
  variantOf: []
  partOf: []
  seeAlso: []
implementations: []
sources:
  - title: "MDN: line-height"
    url: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/line-height
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: the vertical space between lines of type
---

Designers say leading, developers say line-height, and they are talking about
nearly the same thing. The word is metal-type history: strips of lead placed
between lines to space them out, which is why it rhymes with "bedding" and not with
"reading".

Nearly the same, because the two are measured differently. Leading is baseline to
baseline; CSS `line-height` distributes its space above and below the text box, so
half of it lands over the first line and half under the last. A unitless value like
`1.5` is the safe form, since it scales with each element's own font size instead
of being inherited as a fixed pixel amount.

Body text usually wants somewhere between 1.4 and 1.6. Long measures need more,
since the eye has further to travel back to find the start of the next line; large
headlines need less, often below 1.2, because the same ratio at 48px opens gaps
that break the phrase apart. Both of this term's neighbours are horizontal:
[tracking](/tracking) spaces every letter in a run, [kerning](/kerning) fixes one
troublesome pair.