Notebook Paper Types, College vs Wide Ruled
College ruled lines sit 9/32 inch apart and wide ruled 11/32 inch, dot grid swaps grid lines for dots, and gsm is the paper's weight in grams per square meter.
By Antonio SmithamContributing writer.
On this page
The short answer
Notebook paper differs in three ways: the pattern printed on the page (the ruling), the spacing of that pattern, and the weight of the paper.
- Lined: horizontal lines for writing. In the US, the spacing has a name: wide, college or narrow ruled.
- Grid (graph or quad): lines both ways, forming squares.
- Dot grid: a dot where each grid line would cross, and no lines.
- Plain: no printing at all.
College ruled vs wide ruled
| Ruling | Line spacing | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Wide (legal) ruled | 11/32 in (8.7 mm) | Young students, large handwriting |
| College (medium) ruled | 9/32 in (7.1 mm) | Everyday notes; very common in the US |
| Narrow ruled | 1/4 in (6.4 mm) | Small handwriting, more lines per page |
The gap between wide and college ruled is 1/16 inch per line, so a college ruled page of the same size holds more lines. Wide and college ruled pages also carry a vertical margin line about 1-1/4 inches from the left edge.
A simple test: write a line in your normal hand. If the letters crowd the line above, go wider. If there is a lot of empty space, a narrower ruling fits more on each page.
Dot grid vs grid notebook
A grid page prints full lines in both directions. In the US and Canada, quad paper usually has 2, 4 or 5 squares per inch (4 per inch means quarter-inch squares); in Europe the usual square is 5 mm. Some graph paper makes every fifth or tenth line bolder.
A dot grid page keeps only the crossing points. The dots still guide straight lines, boxes and columns, but there are no lines to cut through what you write or sketch. That is why dot grid is popular for bullet journals, where one page may hold a list, a table and a drawing.
- Pick grid for math, charts, floor plans and anything you measure by counting squares.
- Pick dot grid for mixed notes and layouts where full lines would look busy.
- Pick lined for long passages of handwriting.
What does gsm mean for paper?
Gsm means grams per square meter (g/m2): how much one square meter of that paper weighs. A higher number means a heavier, usually thicker sheet. Typical office copy paper is 80 gsm, so a notebook at a higher number will feel sturdier than copy paper and a lower number lighter.
If you write with wet inks such as gel pens or markers, compare gsm figures between notebooks and favor the heavier sheet. US paper is often sold by pound weight instead; that figure depends on the paper grade, so gsm is the easier number for comparing notebooks.
How we count
Line spacing, margins, grid spacing and the gsm definition come from the reference articles listed below. On Wiki Shopping, 149 notebooks and writing pads were listed under office products on October 26, 2026; 65 are self-stick notes and 14 are hardcover executive notebooks, read from each listing's stated type.