30 Tailwind CSS Text Hover Effects
10 / 30

All 30 in 30 Tailwind CSS Text Hover Effects

  1. 01Tailwind CSS Animated Underline Hover Effect
  2. 02Tailwind Liquid Text Fill Hover Animation
  3. 03Tailwind Gradient Text Hover Effect with bg-clip-text
  4. 04Tailwind Animated Strikethrough Text Hover Effect
  5. 05Tailwind Text Swap and Flip Up Hover Effect
  6. 06Tailwind CSS Glitch Text Hover Effect
  7. 07Tailwind Neon Glow Text with Flicker Animation
  8. 08Tailwind Metallic Gold Shimmer Text Effect
  9. 09Tailwind 3D Text Pop and Lift Hover Effect
  10. 10Tailwind Staggered Letter Wave Hover Animation
  11. 11Tailwind Spotlight Text Reveal on Mouse Hover
  12. 12Tailwind Hover to Reveal Hidden Spoiler Text
  13. 13Tailwind Blur to Focus Text Hover Effect
  14. 14Tailwind Magnetic Hover Effect for Buttons and Text
  15. 15Tailwind Letter Spacing Expand on Hover (Tracking Animation)
  16. 16Tailwind Outline Text Stroke to Fill Hover Effect
  17. 17Tailwind Text Scramble and Matrix Decrypt Hover Effect
  18. 18Tailwind Animated Border Button Hover Effect
  19. 19Tailwind Elastic Rubber Band Text Hover Animation
  20. 20Tailwind Variable Font Weight Hover Animation
  21. 21Tailwind Animated Rainbow Gradient Text on Hover
  22. 22Tailwind 3D Perspective Tilt Text Hover Effect
  23. 23Tailwind Smoke Dissolve Text Hover Effect
  24. 24Tailwind Fire Text Effect with Heat Wave Glow
  25. 25Tailwind Dynamic Text Shadow that Follows the Cursor
  26. 26Tailwind Infinite Text Marquee that Speeds Up on Hover
  27. 27Tailwind Duotone Split Color Text Hover Effect
  28. 28Tailwind CSS Tooltip on Hover (No JavaScript)
  29. 29Tailwind SVG Water Ripple Distortion Text Effect
  30. 30Tailwind Clip-Path Text Reveal Hover Animation
Pure TailwindMIT licensed

Tailwind Staggered Letter Wave Hover Animation

A juice-brand wordmark whose letters jump in a wave: each letter sets style="--i:N", and one class list on the parent — *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] — staggers them all. Because it's transitions, not keyframes, leaving mid-wave reverses through the same stagger. The flavour pills reuse the trick at a smaller amplitude.

Live Demo
Plain CSSTailwind v4
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The code

<section class="tth-10 w-full min-h-svh grid place-items-center bg-[linear-gradient(180deg,var(--color-tth10-sky),var(--color-tth10-bg)_55%,var(--color-tth10-sand))] px-5 py-14 font-tth10-sans text-tth10-ink" aria-label="Staggered letter wave demo">
  <div class="flex flex-col items-center gap-[clamp(16px,3vw,26px)] text-center">
    <p class="text-[12.5px] font-extrabold uppercase tracking-[0.26em] text-tth10-mut">Cold-pressed &middot; Bondi since 2019</p>
    <a id="tth10-top" href="#tth10-top" aria-label="SUNDAZE" class="group/wave inline-block rounded-[10px] px-[0.1em] pt-[0.18em] pb-[0.1em] font-tth10-display text-[clamp(56px,13.5vw,140px)] leading-none tracking-[-0.01em] no-underline focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-8 focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc">
      <span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,rotate,color] *:duration-500 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/wave:*:-translate-y-[0.22em] group-hover/wave:*:text-tth10-acc group-hover/wave:*:even:rotate-6 group-hover/wave:*:even:text-tth10-sea group-focus-visible/wave:*:-translate-y-[0.22em] group-focus-visible/wave:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/wave:*:even:rotate-6 group-focus-visible/wave:*:even:text-tth10-sea motion-reduce:*:transition-[color] motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">S</i><i style="--i:1">U</i><i style="--i:2">N</i><i style="--i:3">D</i><i style="--i:4">A</i><i style="--i:5">Z</i><i style="--i:6">E</i></span>
    </a>
    <nav class="flex flex-wrap justify-center gap-[clamp(10px,2.4vw,22px)]" aria-label="Flavours">
      <a href="#tth10-top" aria-label="Mango" class="group/pill grid min-h-12 place-items-center rounded-full border-[2.5px] border-tth10-ink bg-tth10-paper px-[22px] text-[17px] font-black no-underline shadow-[0_3px_0_var(--color-tth10-ink)] transition-[background-color,border-color,translate,box-shadow] duration-300 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:border-tth10-acc hover:bg-white hover:shadow-[0_5px_0_var(--color-tth10-acc)] focus-visible:border-tth10-acc focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-[3px] focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc"><span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,color] *:duration-400 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-hover/pill:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-focus-visible/pill:*:text-tth10-acc motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">M</i><i style="--i:1">a</i><i style="--i:2">n</i><i style="--i:3">g</i><i style="--i:4">o</i></span></a>
      <a href="#tth10-top" aria-label="Guava" class="group/pill grid min-h-12 place-items-center rounded-full border-[2.5px] border-tth10-ink bg-tth10-paper px-[22px] text-[17px] font-black no-underline shadow-[0_3px_0_var(--color-tth10-ink)] transition-[background-color,border-color,translate,box-shadow] duration-300 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:border-tth10-acc hover:bg-white hover:shadow-[0_5px_0_var(--color-tth10-acc)] focus-visible:border-tth10-acc focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-[3px] focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc"><span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,color] *:duration-400 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-hover/pill:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-focus-visible/pill:*:text-tth10-acc motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">G</i><i style="--i:1">u</i><i style="--i:2">a</i><i style="--i:3">v</i><i style="--i:4">a</i></span></a>
      <a href="#tth10-top" aria-label="Yuzu" class="group/pill grid min-h-12 place-items-center rounded-full border-[2.5px] border-tth10-ink bg-tth10-paper px-[22px] text-[17px] font-black no-underline shadow-[0_3px_0_var(--color-tth10-ink)] transition-[background-color,border-color,translate,box-shadow] duration-300 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:border-tth10-acc hover:bg-white hover:shadow-[0_5px_0_var(--color-tth10-acc)] focus-visible:border-tth10-acc focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-[3px] focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc"><span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,color] *:duration-400 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-hover/pill:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-focus-visible/pill:*:text-tth10-acc motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">Y</i><i style="--i:1">u</i><i style="--i:2">z</i><i style="--i:3">u</i></span></a>
    </nav>
    <p class="max-w-[54ch] text-[12.5px] leading-[1.7] text-tth10-mut">Hover, leave mid-wave, hover again &mdash; transitions reverse through the same stagger, which keyframes can't do. The real word lives in <code class="rounded bg-tth10-chip px-1.5 py-px font-tth10-mono text-[0.9em]">aria-label</code>.</p>
  </div>
</section>
@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  --color-tth10-sky: #fbefcd;
  --color-tth10-sky: oklch(0.95 0.05 90);
  --color-tth10-bg: #f6e3b4;
  --color-tth10-bg: oklch(0.93 0.06 85);
  --color-tth10-sand: #f2d39b;
  --color-tth10-sand: oklch(0.9 0.07 70);
  --color-tth10-paper: #fcf6e6;
  --color-tth10-paper: oklch(0.97 0.02 90);
  --color-tth10-chip: #ecd9a8;
  --color-tth10-chip: oklch(0.88 0.05 85);
  --color-tth10-ink: #5a2d10;
  --color-tth10-ink: oklch(0.32 0.08 50);
  --color-tth10-mut: #6c4a33;
  --color-tth10-mut: oklch(0.43 0.06 55);
  --color-tth10-acc: #e2532c;
  --color-tth10-acc: oklch(0.62 0.19 35);
  --color-tth10-sea: #2b8cc0;
  --color-tth10-sea: oklch(0.6 0.13 220);
  --font-tth10-display: 'Bagel Fat One', system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-tth10-sans: 'Nunito', system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-tth10-mono: 'JetBrains Mono', ui-monospace, monospace;
}

.tth-10 {
  width: 100%;
  min-height: 100svh;
}

Setup — do this once per project

Skip this if your project already runs Tailwind v4.

1Load Tailwind
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@tailwindcss/browser@4"></script>

Compiles in the browser — perfect for a CodePen or a quick test, not for production.

2Add the stylesheetRequiredthe @theme block is what makes the custom utilities exist
@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  --color-tth10-sky: #fbefcd;
  --color-tth10-sky: oklch(0.95 0.05 90);
  --color-tth10-bg: #f6e3b4;
  --color-tth10-bg: oklch(0.93 0.06 85);
  --color-tth10-sand: #f2d39b;
  --color-tth10-sand: oklch(0.9 0.07 70);
  --color-tth10-paper: #fcf6e6;
  --color-tth10-paper: oklch(0.97 0.02 90);
  --color-tth10-chip: #ecd9a8;
  --color-tth10-chip: oklch(0.88 0.05 85);
  --color-tth10-ink: #5a2d10;
  --color-tth10-ink: oklch(0.32 0.08 50);
  --color-tth10-mut: #6c4a33;
  --color-tth10-mut: oklch(0.43 0.06 55);
  --color-tth10-acc: #e2532c;
  --color-tth10-acc: oklch(0.62 0.19 35);
  --color-tth10-sea: #2b8cc0;
  --color-tth10-sea: oklch(0.6 0.13 220);
  --font-tth10-display: 'Bagel Fat One', system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-tth10-sans: 'Nunito', system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-tth10-mono: 'JetBrains Mono', ui-monospace, monospace;
}

.tth-10 {
  width: 100%;
  min-height: 100svh;
}
3Fonts used by this demooptional — skip if you have your own type stack
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Bagel+Fat+One&family=Nunito:wght@600;800;900&family=JetBrains+Mono:wght@400;600&display=swap">

What changed in the port

Which parts became utilities, which stayed CSS, and why.

  • Every .wave i descendant rule moved to the parent span as *: utilities — the letters carry only style="--i:N". i:nth-child(even) became the stacked *:even: variant.
  • UI upgrade from the CSS original: Bagel Fat One gives the wordmark a real juice-label personality, and the flavour pills now lift on a hard 3px offset shadow that turns orange — a tactile sticker feel.
  • UI upgrade: under motion-reduce: the letters still change colour (instantly, no stagger) instead of losing all feedback; muted copy went to 0.43 L (6.2:1).
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or any coding assistant. The block below is pre-framed with everything the AI needs to integrate this demo into your project — markup, styles, scoping notes, and the source URL. Hit Copy and paste straight into your chat.
Here's a working CSS demo from CodeFronts. Use it as-is or adapt to your framework. All classes are scoped under a unique prefix so the code won't collide with your existing styles. MIT licensed.
Demo: Tailwind Staggered Letter Wave Hover Animation
Source: https://codefronts.com/motion/tailwind-css-text-hover-effects/tailwind-staggered-letter-wave-hover-animation/

A juice-brand wordmark whose letters jump in a wave: each letter sets style="--i:N", and one class list on the parent — *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] — staggers them all. Because it's transitions, not keyframes, leaving mid-wave reverses through the same stagger. The flavour pills reuse the trick at a smaller amplitude.
## HTML
```html
<section class="tth-10 w-full min-h-svh grid place-items-center bg-[linear-gradient(180deg,var(--color-tth10-sky),var(--color-tth10-bg)_55%,var(--color-tth10-sand))] px-5 py-14 font-tth10-sans text-tth10-ink" aria-label="Staggered letter wave demo">
  <div class="flex flex-col items-center gap-[clamp(16px,3vw,26px)] text-center">
    <p class="text-[12.5px] font-extrabold uppercase tracking-[0.26em] text-tth10-mut">Cold-pressed &middot; Bondi since 2019</p>
    <a id="tth10-top" href="#tth10-top" aria-label="SUNDAZE" class="group/wave inline-block rounded-[10px] px-[0.1em] pt-[0.18em] pb-[0.1em] font-tth10-display text-[clamp(56px,13.5vw,140px)] leading-none tracking-[-0.01em] no-underline focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-8 focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc">
      <span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,rotate,color] *:duration-500 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/wave:*:-translate-y-[0.22em] group-hover/wave:*:text-tth10-acc group-hover/wave:*:even:rotate-6 group-hover/wave:*:even:text-tth10-sea group-focus-visible/wave:*:-translate-y-[0.22em] group-focus-visible/wave:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/wave:*:even:rotate-6 group-focus-visible/wave:*:even:text-tth10-sea motion-reduce:*:transition-[color] motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">S</i><i style="--i:1">U</i><i style="--i:2">N</i><i style="--i:3">D</i><i style="--i:4">A</i><i style="--i:5">Z</i><i style="--i:6">E</i></span>
    </a>
    <nav class="flex flex-wrap justify-center gap-[clamp(10px,2.4vw,22px)]" aria-label="Flavours">
      <a href="#tth10-top" aria-label="Mango" class="group/pill grid min-h-12 place-items-center rounded-full border-[2.5px] border-tth10-ink bg-tth10-paper px-[22px] text-[17px] font-black no-underline shadow-[0_3px_0_var(--color-tth10-ink)] transition-[background-color,border-color,translate,box-shadow] duration-300 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:border-tth10-acc hover:bg-white hover:shadow-[0_5px_0_var(--color-tth10-acc)] focus-visible:border-tth10-acc focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-[3px] focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc"><span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,color] *:duration-400 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-hover/pill:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-focus-visible/pill:*:text-tth10-acc motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">M</i><i style="--i:1">a</i><i style="--i:2">n</i><i style="--i:3">g</i><i style="--i:4">o</i></span></a>
      <a href="#tth10-top" aria-label="Guava" class="group/pill grid min-h-12 place-items-center rounded-full border-[2.5px] border-tth10-ink bg-tth10-paper px-[22px] text-[17px] font-black no-underline shadow-[0_3px_0_var(--color-tth10-ink)] transition-[background-color,border-color,translate,box-shadow] duration-300 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:border-tth10-acc hover:bg-white hover:shadow-[0_5px_0_var(--color-tth10-acc)] focus-visible:border-tth10-acc focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-[3px] focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc"><span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,color] *:duration-400 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-hover/pill:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-focus-visible/pill:*:text-tth10-acc motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">G</i><i style="--i:1">u</i><i style="--i:2">a</i><i style="--i:3">v</i><i style="--i:4">a</i></span></a>
      <a href="#tth10-top" aria-label="Yuzu" class="group/pill grid min-h-12 place-items-center rounded-full border-[2.5px] border-tth10-ink bg-tth10-paper px-[22px] text-[17px] font-black no-underline shadow-[0_3px_0_var(--color-tth10-ink)] transition-[background-color,border-color,translate,box-shadow] duration-300 hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:border-tth10-acc hover:bg-white hover:shadow-[0_5px_0_var(--color-tth10-acc)] focus-visible:border-tth10-acc focus-visible:outline-3 focus-visible:outline-offset-[3px] focus-visible:outline-tth10-acc"><span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block *:not-italic *:transition-[translate,color] *:duration-400 *:ease-[cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1)] *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)] group-hover/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-hover/pill:*:text-tth10-acc group-focus-visible/pill:*:-translate-y-[0.14em] group-focus-visible/pill:*:text-tth10-acc motion-reduce:*:delay-0"><i style="--i:0">Y</i><i style="--i:1">u</i><i style="--i:2">z</i><i style="--i:3">u</i></span></a>
    </nav>
    <p class="max-w-[54ch] text-[12.5px] leading-[1.7] text-tth10-mut">Hover, leave mid-wave, hover again &mdash; transitions reverse through the same stagger, which keyframes can't do. The real word lives in <code class="rounded bg-tth10-chip px-1.5 py-px font-tth10-mono text-[0.9em]">aria-label</code>.</p>
  </div>
</section>
```
## CSS
```css
@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  --color-tth10-sky: #fbefcd;
  --color-tth10-sky: oklch(0.95 0.05 90);
  --color-tth10-bg: #f6e3b4;
  --color-tth10-bg: oklch(0.93 0.06 85);
  --color-tth10-sand: #f2d39b;
  --color-tth10-sand: oklch(0.9 0.07 70);
  --color-tth10-paper: #fcf6e6;
  --color-tth10-paper: oklch(0.97 0.02 90);
  --color-tth10-chip: #ecd9a8;
  --color-tth10-chip: oklch(0.88 0.05 85);
  --color-tth10-ink: #5a2d10;
  --color-tth10-ink: oklch(0.32 0.08 50);
  --color-tth10-mut: #6c4a33;
  --color-tth10-mut: oklch(0.43 0.06 55);
  --color-tth10-acc: #e2532c;
  --color-tth10-acc: oklch(0.62 0.19 35);
  --color-tth10-sea: #2b8cc0;
  --color-tth10-sea: oklch(0.6 0.13 220);
  --font-tth10-display: 'Bagel Fat One', system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-tth10-sans: 'Nunito', system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-tth10-mono: 'JetBrains Mono', ui-monospace, monospace;
}

.tth-10 {
  width: 100%;
  min-height: 100svh;
}
```

How this works

One class list for every letter. v4's *: variant targets direct children, so the letters themselves carry nothing but their index:

<span aria-hidden="true" class="*:inline-block
  *:transition-[translate,rotate,color] *:duration-500
  *:delay-[calc(var(--i)*45ms)]
  group-hover/wave:*:-translate-y-[0.22em]
  group-hover/wave:*:even:rotate-6">
  <i style="--i:0">S</i><i style="--i:1">U</i>…

Why transitions. A keyframe wave restarts from zero if you leave and re-enter. A transition reverses from wherever each letter is, so the wave unwinds smoothly — and the stagger plays in reverse order too.

The spring is the overshoot curve cubic-bezier(.34,1.9,.5,1): each letter overshoots upward and settles, so the wave feels elastic without bouncing keyframes.

Make it yours

  • Faster wave: lower 45ms to 25ms.
  • Reverse direction: number the letters from the end (--i descending).
  • Colour cycle: add group-hover/wave:*:nth-3:text-… for a three-colour rhythm.

Gotchas — read before shipping

  • Inline elements ignore translate — the letters must be inline-block.
  • Splitting letters kills kerning pairs; use display faces with even spacing.
  • Never let screen readers read S-U-N-D-A-Z-E: the real word lives in the link's aria-label.

Browser support

ChromeSafariFirefoxEdge
111+16.4+128+111+

Universal; the floor is Tailwind v4's sheet. *: compiles to :is(.x > *).

Techniques used in this demo

Utilitiesfirst-class utility or variant

transition delaytw ↗

Theme tokensset in @theme, used by a utility

custom propertiestw ↗

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