an in - plane mode liquid crystal display device is provided that is capable of improving a contrast ratio by blocking a light leakage region formed by a column spacer . the lcd includes gate and data lines that are formed on a substrate and cross each other to define pixels . a switching device , parallel first and second electrodes that generate a horizontal electric field , and a column spacer are disposed at each pixel . the column spacers are disposed between opposing substrates and are aligned with black matrix or the data lines such that the columns formed by the column spacers overlap with bent portions of the data lines .