Word Clock Online
Updated
A QlockTwo-style word clock that spells out the time on a glowing letter grid, in English or ten other languages. Pick a color, go fullscreen, and turn any monitor into a minimalist text clock.
Word clock
Auto dims the clock from 10 PM to 7 AM.
Sets the digital time under the sentence. It follows the language until you pick one.
The 12-hour/24-hour setting changes only the digital time and, in English, AM/PM.
Auto switches to a dim red-on-black display from 10 PM to 7 AM.
How the word clock works
The word clock - inspired by the German-designed QlockTwo - replaces digits with sentences. An 11x10 grid of letters always displays the alphabet, but only the letters that form the current time stay lit. Read the highlighted words top-to-bottom and you get a sentence like "IT IS TEN PAST FIVE".
The words move in five-minute steps, matching the original QlockTwo: at 10:37 the grid still reads TWENTY-FIVE TO ELEVEN until 10:40.
Four small dots in the corners of the grid light one by one for the extra 1-4 minutes, so you can read the exact minute. The unlit letters stay faintly visible (the "ghost" effect) so the clock looks like a real backlit panel rather than a list of words.
Five-minute steps
- :00 O'CLOCK
- :05 FIVE PAST
- :10 TEN PAST
- :15 A QUARTER PAST
- :20 TWENTY PAST
- :25 TWENTY-FIVE PAST
- :30 HALF PAST
- :35 TWENTY-FIVE TO
- :40 TWENTY TO
- :45 A QUARTER TO
- :50 TEN TO
- :55 FIVE TO
O'CLOCK on the hour, PAST up to HALF PAST, then TO the next hour.
Features at a glance
QlockTwo letter grid
Authentic 11x10 layout used by the original German clock.
Six color presets
Plus a custom color picker for any hex value.
Three brightness levels plus Auto
Dim, medium, bright, or Auto, which dims the clock overnight on the hours you set (10 PM to 7 AM by default).
Night Mode
A dim red or amber display on pure black, On all the time or Auto on adjustable hours, without losing your own color and brightness.
Minute dots
Four corner dots add 1-4 minutes of precision.
Fullscreen and screensaver mode
Black, OLED-friendly background, keeps the screen awake and hides the idle mouse pointer.
Shareable URL
Your language, color, brightness, night mode and display settings travel with the link, and are remembered in this browser.
12-hour and 24-hour
The digital readout follows the language - 12-hour for English, 24-hour for the others - until you pick one. 12-hour also lights AM or PM on the English grid.
Eleven languages
English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish grids, picked from your browser language on the first visit.
Mobile ready
The grid scales to any screen size, including landscape fullscreen on a phone.
No signup, no install
Runs entirely in your browser, no data leaves your device.
Screensaver drift
In fullscreen the clock moves slightly to a new spot every minute, too slowly to notice, so an OLED screen does not burn in.
Good uses for a browser word clock
Spare monitor or TV
Leave it running as a stylish ambient clock.
Stream overlay
Capture a region in OBS for a unique on-screen clock.
Reading nook or office
Softer than a digital clock, easier to glance at.
Bedside clock
Set Night Mode to Auto for a dim red or amber display on black overnight, on the hours you choose.
Learning aid
Useful for English students learning how to tell time in words.
Kitchen or hallway
An old tablet on a stand makes a calm wall clock the whole family can read.
Keyboard shortcuts
- F Esc
- Toggle fullscreen / exit fullscreen
- 1-4
- Dim / medium / bright / auto
- S
- Toggle the sentence below the grid
- N
- Cycle Night Mode Off / Auto / On
- L
- Cycle through the eleven languages
- D
- Turn screensaver drift on or off
Frequently Asked Questions
A word clock displays the time as words instead of digits. The classic QlockTwo design uses an 11x10 letter grid where certain letters illuminate to spell out the current time, like "IT IS HALF PAST TEN".
The clock reads your device time and updates exactly on each minute. The words step every five minutes - IT IS TEN PAST, A QUARTER PAST and so on - which is the traditional QlockTwo behavior, and the four corner dots light one by one for the extra 1-4 minutes. Turn on the sentence to see the exact digital time as well.
Yes. Pick from six preset colors - white, amber, red, green, blue, magenta - or use the custom picker for any color. Brightness has Dim, Medium, Bright and Auto, which dims the clock overnight - 10 PM to 7 AM by default, and the hours are adjustable under Night Mode.
Yes. Set Night Mode to On for a dim red or amber display on black, or to Auto to switch it on during the hours you choose - 10 PM to 7 AM by default - using the clock on your device. It overrides your color and brightness only while it is active, so they come back exactly as they were. Press N to cycle between Off, Auto and On.
Yes. Completely free, runs entirely in your browser, no signup and no usage limits. Leave it running as a clock or screensaver as long as you want.
Yes. Click Enter Fullscreen and the word clock fills the screen on a black, OLED-friendly background. While it is fullscreen the page asks the browser to keep the screen awake, and the mouse pointer hides when idle. Press Esc, or tap the screen and use the Exit fullscreen button on a phone or tablet.
Yes. Click Share Link to copy a URL with your language, color, brightness, night mode and display settings encoded. Anyone who opens the link sees the same configuration. Your own settings are also remembered in this browser for your next visit.
Yes. The grid scales to the screen, including landscape fullscreen, and works on any modern mobile browser - iOS Safari, Android Chrome and others.
Very unlikely. The background is pure black, so most OLED pixels stay off. With Screensaver drift on, which is the default, the whole clock moves slightly to a new spot every minute while it is fullscreen, so the letters never sit on exactly the same pixels for hours.
The movement is slow enough that you will not notice it. For long nights, Dim brightness or Night Mode lowers the wear even more.
Eleven: English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish, each with its own letter grid that tells the time the way that language does. Finnish words are longer, so its grid is 13x11 instead of 11x10. On your first visit the clock picks your browser language. Change it under Language or press L. Your choice is saved in this browser and included in shared links.