 <p>Setting the container to position:relative and the span to 100% seemed to work.</p> <pre><code>.rw-words{ display: block; position: relative; } .rw-words-1 span{ position: absolute; width: 100%; ... } </code></pre> <p><a href="http://jsfiddle.net/willemvb/9Xubs/" rel="nofollow">http://jsfiddle.net/willemvb/9Xubs/</a></p>