Time Vocabulary Worksheet

Press Print worksheet to match twelve clock words, such as o'clock, half past and quarter to, with their meanings.

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All 36 words

On the clock 12

analog clock A clock with hands that point to numbers on a dial. A wall clock with an hour hand and a minute hand is an analog clock.
clock face The dial of a clock: the part marked with the numbers. A clock face is usually numbered from 1 to 12.
digital clock A clock that shows the time in digits, such as 7:30. A digital clock shows half past seven as 7:30.
half past Thirty minutes after the hour. Half past 2 is 2:30.
half-hour A span of thirty minutes. Two half-hours make one hour.
hour hand The short hand: it goes around a clock twice a day. At 3 o'clock the hour hand points to the 3.
minute hand The long hand: it goes around a clock once an hour. At half past the hour the minute hand points to the 6.
o'clock A word said after a number to name an exact hour. At 4 o'clock the minute hand points to the 12.
quarter past Fifteen minutes after the hour. Quarter past 2 is 2:15.
quarter to Fifteen minutes before the next hour. Quarter to 3 is 2:45.
quarter-hour A span of fifteen minutes. Four quarter-hours make one hour.
tell time To read a clock and say what time it is. Reading 8:15 from the hands of a clock is telling time.

Show all 36 words (24 more)

Parts of the day 12

24-hour clock A way of telling time that counts hours from 0 to 23. On a 24-hour clock 3:00 p.m. is 15:00.
a.m. Letters after a time between midnight and noon. 7:00 a.m. is seven in the morning. The letters stand for ante meridiem, Latin for before midday.
afternoon The hours from noon until about sunset. 1:30 p.m. is in the afternoon.
evening The hours around sunset, before night. 7:00 p.m. is in the evening.
midafternoon Halfway through the afternoon. 3:00 p.m. is midafternoon.
midmorning Halfway through the morning. A snack at about 10:00 a.m. is a midmorning snack.
midnight 12:00 at night, the start of a new calendar day. On a 24-hour clock midnight is 00:00.
morning The hours from sunrise up to noon. 9:00 a.m. is in the morning.
nightfall The moment at day's end when it gets dark. In winter nightfall comes earlier than in summer.
nighttime The dark hours between sunset and sunrise. Stars can be seen at nighttime.
noon The 12:00 in the daytime, twelve hours after midnight. At noon both hands of an analog clock point to the 12.
p.m. Letters after a time between noon and midnight. 7:00 p.m. is seven in the evening. The letters stand for post meridiem, Latin for after midday.

Elapsed time and the calendar 12

ahead of time Earlier than the time that was planned. Arriving at 8:20 for a class that starts at 8:30 is ahead of time.
calendar year The time from January 1 through December 31. A calendar year has 12 months.
daylight saving time Clocks moved ahead, usually one hour, for the summer. In most of the United States daylight saving time runs from March to November.
elapsed time The amount of time between a start and an end. From 2:15 to 3:00 the elapsed time is 45 minutes.
leap day February 29, the day added in a leap year. After 2024 the next leap day is February 29, 2028.
leap year A year of 366 days instead of 365. A leap year comes every 4 years, with a few century years left out.
on time At the planned time; not late. If class starts at 8:30, arriving at 8:30 is on time.
overnight Through the night, until the next morning. An overnight trip includes one night away from home.
time limit The longest time allowed for doing something. A quiz with a time limit of 10 minutes that starts at 9:00 ends at 9:10.
time zone A part of the world that shares one clock time. When a traveler crosses into the next time zone, the clock usually changes by one hour.
weekend Saturday and Sunday taken together. A weekend has two days.
weeknight An evening that is not part of the weekend. Tuesday night is a weeknight.

How this list was compiled: Word list chosen for this site on 2026-10-09. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, and a second time against the entry in the Cambridge Dictionary (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/). Where the Cambridge Dictionary has no entry of its own, the second check was its entry for the main word (analog clock and digital clock under analogue and digital, clock face under face, quarter to and quarter past under quarter) or, for a.m. and p.m., the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (https://www.ldoceonline.com/). The examples were checked against the English Wikipedia articles Clock face, 12-hour clock, Leap year and Daylight saving time (https://en.wikipedia.org/), under the same license. Every clock time and every count in the examples was worked out and then checked a second time. The example after each meaning is our own. Licence: own work

How it works

This time vocabulary worksheet prints twelve words for telling time down the left and their meanings, mixed up, down the right. Two more sets cover the parts of the day, from a.m. to midnight, and elapsed time and the calendar.

Read the full guide

Clock words first

Set opens on On the clock: analog clock, digital clock, clock face, hour hand, minute hand, o'clock, half past, quarter past, quarter to, half-hour, quarter-hour and tell time. The meanings of quarter past and quarter to say which way the minutes count.

Time vocabulary worksheets for the day and for elapsed time

Parts of the day prints a.m., p.m., noon, midnight, morning, afternoon, evening, nighttime, nightfall, midmorning, midafternoon and 24-hour clock. Elapsed time and the calendar has elapsed time, time limit, on time, ahead of time, overnight, weeknight, weekend, leap day, leap year, calendar year, daylight saving time and time zone.

Minute, hour and day are not terms on the sheet. They are the words the meanings are written with.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between quarter past and quarter to?

Quarter past is fifteen minutes after an hour, and quarter to is fifteen minutes before the next one. Quarter past 2 is 2:15 and quarter to 3 is 2:45. Half past 2, between them, is 2:30.

What do a.m. and p.m. mean?

They are short for the Latin ante meridiem and post meridiem, before midday and after midday. Times from midnight to noon take a.m. and times from noon to midnight take p.m., so 7:00 a.m. is in the morning.

What is elapsed time?

The amount of time between a start and an end. From 2:15 to 3:00 the elapsed time is 45 minutes. The third set prints it with time limit, on time and ahead of time.

Is there a time vocabulary worksheet PDF?

No file is stored on the page. Press Print worksheet and pick Save as PDF in your browser's print window. The answer key is saved as the last page.

All 36 words

On the clock 12

Parts of the day 12

Elapsed time and the calendar 12

How it works

Clock words first

Time vocabulary worksheets for the day and for elapsed time

Questions and answers

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