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What is kerning?

Lesson 01 · 3 min read · Updated 30 September 2026

Kerning is the adjustment of space between two particular letters, so that a word reads as one even texture. Move the second letter below until the pair looks right, then see how the typeface kerns it.

Pair
Typeface
AV

DM Sans Bold · in thousandths of an em

Drag the V by its red mark, or use the ruler: each step is a thousandth of an em.

01

What kerning does

A typeface gives every letter a little space of its own on either side, its sidebearings, so that most pairs sit well together without help. But letters are not boxes. A diagonal beside a diagonal, as in AV, leaves a wedge of white between them, and a capital with an overhang, such as T, leaves a gap over a small letter that could tuck under it, as in To. Spaced by their boxes alone, such pairs look loose, and a word full of them falls apart.

A kerning pair is the fix: an instruction in the font file to move one particular pair closer, or now and then further apart. DM Sans Bold moves the V of AV 87 thousandths of an em towards the A, so at 100 pixels the V shifts almost 9 pixels. A font holds hundreds or thousands of these pairs, usually in classes, so that one rule for A and V also covers À, Á and Â.

02

Kerning vs tracking

Tracking, also called letter-spacing, changes every gap in a line, a word or a whole paragraph by the same amount. Kerning changes one gap at a time. They do different jobs: kerning evens out the rhythm of a word, tracking sets how tight or open the whole setting feels.

Type designers kern; people who set type mostly track. Large headlines often look better a little tighter, while capitals and small text need more room. Try both on the line below: switch the kerning off to see which pairs it was holding together, then track the line and watch every gap move at once.

Kerning
0 em

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CSSfont-kerning: normal; letter-spacing: normal;

03

Where kerning happens

Most of the time nobody kerns by hand. Browsers apply a font’s kerning by default, and so do design tools such as Figma and InDesign. On the web, letter-spacing tracks and font-kerning switches the font’s own kerning on or off; tracking adds to the kerning rather than replacing it. Microsoft Word is the odd one out: it leaves kerning off until you tick Kerning for fonts in the Advanced tab of its Font dialog.

Where a font’s own pairs are missing or poor, some tools can kern optically instead, spacing each pair from the shapes of its letters. Logos and big headlines are still kerned by eye: at large sizes a gap of a few thousandths of an em shows, and no font knows in advance which words it will set.

04

How to kern by eye

Kerning is judged by the white between letters, not by the letters. The aim is an even amount of white in every gap, which is not an equal distance: round letters sit closer than straight ones, and diagonals tuck into each other.

  • Look at the spaces, not the letters. The gap between two straight stems is your yardstick.
  • Squint, or step back. A blurred word shows the dark and pale patches a sharp one hides.
  • Turn the word upside down. Once it stops reading as a word, you see the shapes.
  • Judge each gap against the gaps either side of it, not on its own.
  • Start with the loosest pair, usually a diagonal or an overhang, and fix it first.

05

Try it in the game

  • Kerning game
    Space the Word

    Ten words to space by eye, from a three-letter warm-up to words with punctuation. Your letters stay red, and the typeface’s own spacing slides in over them.

  • Round 01
    The balance test: Space it

    The first of twelve rounds: move the O of HOP until the gaps feel even, then see the typeface’s answer.

06

Fonts to open

  • Sans serif
    DM Sans

    The board’s sans, and the one this site is set in

  • Serif
    Instrument Serif

    The board’s serif, kerned for display sizes

  • Sans serif
    Bebas Neue

    Condensed capitals that people often track open

  • Serif
    Playfair Display

    High contrast at headline sizes, where kerning shows

  • Sans serif
    Inter

    A text face that sets tighter as its optical size grows

Sans serif fonts Serif fonts

07

Questions

What is the difference between kerning and tracking?
Kerning changes the space between one particular pair of letters, such as A and V. Tracking, or letter-spacing, changes the space between all the letters of a line, a word or a paragraph by the same amount.
How do I turn kerning on or off in CSS?
font-kerning: normal applies the font’s kerning and font-kerning: none switches it off; auto, the default, leaves it to the browser, and browsers kern. letter-spacing is tracking, and it adds to the kerning rather than replacing it.
Why is it called kerning?
In metal type, a kern was the part of a letter that hung over the edge of its metal body so that it could reach over its neighbour, as the top of an f did. Kerning came to mean setting any pair closer than their bodies allow.
What is keming?
A joke word for bad kerning: set the r and n of “kerning” too close and they read as an m.

08

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