Manitoba Road Signs Cheat Sheet 2026 — Study Guide

Q: What shape is a yield sign in Manitoba?

A yield sign is a red-and-white equilateral triangle pointing down. It tells you to slow down, give right-of-way to other traffic and pedestrians, and only proceed when the way is clear.

Last updated: October 2026

Updated October 2026 · 7 min read

The short version

Roughly a third of the Manitoba Class 5 knowledge test is about signs. The Manitoba Driver's Handbook follows the national Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Canada, which groups signs by shape and colour. If you can read a sign from its shape alone — red octagon, yellow diamond, orange diamond — you'll pass this half of the test on sight.

The five sign categories

Every sign on a Manitoba road fits one of five categories. Learn them in this order:

1. Regulatory signs — what you must or must not do

Regulatory signs tell you a traffic law. Breaking one is an offence under the Highway Traffic Act. Shapes and colours:

Red octagon — STOP. Full stop at the stop line, crosswalk, or before the intersection, whichever comes first.
Red-and-white triangle pointing down — YIELD. Give way to other traffic and pedestrians; stop if needed; proceed when clear.
Red circle with a slash — PROHIBITION. The symbol inside tells you what is not allowed (no right turn, no entry, no U-turn, no parking).
White rectangle, black text — speed limits, lane use, parking rules, HOV lanes, direction of travel.
Green circle — permission. "RIGHT TURN ONLY" or "BIKES ONLY" or a lane-use arrow in green shows something you may do.

2. Warning signs — something is up ahead

Warning signs predict a hazard, so you can slow down before it. Standard warning shape is a yellow diamond with a black symbol or text:

Yellow diamond — permanent road warning (curve, hill, slippery, pedestrian, railway, animal crossing, uneven surface).
Yellow pentagon — school area (older style; some areas have upgraded to fluorescent yellow-green).
Yellow circle — railway crossing in advance of the X-shaped crossbuck at the tracks.
Yellow pennant — no-passing zone, on the left side of the road.

3. Construction signs — temporary work-zone warnings

Construction signs look like warning signs but in a different colour. They are temporary and come down when the work is done:

Orange diamond — work ahead, flaggers, lane shift, machinery.
Orange rectangle, black text — detour signs and specific work-zone rules.
Fines double in work zones when workers are present, under Manitoba's Highway Traffic Act.

4. Information and guide signs — where to go

Information and guide signs help you find your destination, services, or special-interest sites:

Green rectangle — destinations, highway exits, street names, distances to towns.
Blue rectangle — services (gas, food, hospital, lodging, rest area).
Brown rectangle — parks, recreation sites, historic markers (Riding Mountain National Park, Lake Winnipeg beaches, Winnipeg Beach and St. Malo provincial parks).
PTH shield — the Manitoba Provincial Trunk Highway marker, a numbered shield shape. PR (Provincial Road) markers are a smaller rectangle.

5. School and playground signs — fluorescent yellow-green

School and playground signs use fluorescent yellow-green because it's visible across a wider range of light conditions than standard yellow. Shapes:

Fluorescent yellow-green pentagon — school zone. 30 km/h on school days during posted hours.
Fluorescent yellow-green diamond — crosswalk or playground ahead.
Playground zones — a 30 km/h limit may apply throughout daylight hours year-round, as posted.

The signs most likely on your test

These show up on nearly every mock attempt. Make them automatic:

Stop sign (red octagon) — full stop, including at a two-way or four-way.
Yield sign (red-and-white triangle) — give way, do not stop unless needed.
Yellow diamond with an arrow curving right — curve to the right ahead, slow down.
Orange diamond with a worker — work zone, prepare to slow and shift lane.
Yellow X with "RR" — railway crossing ahead.
White rectangle "MAXIMUM 100" — highest legal speed is 100 km/h under ideal conditions.
Blue rectangle with H — hospital.
Green rectangle with city names — destination guide, usually at a highway exit.
Fluorescent yellow-green pentagon — school zone, 30 km/h on school days.
Red circle with a diagonal slash and a right-turn arrow — no right turn.

Manitoba-specific signs

A few sign types show up in Manitoba more than other provinces:

Bilingual French/English signs — in Franco-Manitoban communities like Saint Boniface, Saint-Pierre-Jolys, La Broquerie, and parts of the Red River Valley. Both languages carry the same instruction.
Indigenous-language signs — Cree, Ojibwe, Saulteaux, or Dakota text may appear alongside English on signs near First Nations communities. These signs accompany the English version rather than replacing it.
RM road signs — roads administered by a Rural Municipality (RM) default to 60 km/h unless posted. A test question may phrase this as "an unpaved RM road with no posted limit".
Winter driving advisories — electronic variable-message signs along the TransCanada and PTH 75 announce closures during storms.
Floodway signs — around the Red River Floodway in Winnipeg's southeast, signs mark the floodway gates and warn of closures during spring flood operations.

Shape-and-colour as a reflex

The fastest way to learn signs is to practise reading them from the shape alone. Try this exercise next time you're a passenger: cover the symbol or text with your thumb and read the sign from its shape and colour. Red octagon? Stop. Yellow diamond? Warning. Blue rectangle? Services. If you can get through a drive and name every sign without the text, you'll breeze through the signs questions on your knowledge test.

Drill the signs

Signs-only practice from the 500-question Manitoba bank. Untimed. Free.

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Common questions

What shape is a yield sign in Manitoba?

A red-and-white equilateral triangle pointing down. Slow, give right-of-way, then proceed when clear.

What does a fluorescent yellow-green sign mean in Manitoba?

Fluorescent yellow-green is used for school zones, playground zones, and school crossings. Pentagon-shaped signs mark school zones; 30 km/h on school days during posted hours.

What's the easiest sign category to lose marks on?

Information and guide signs. Most learners spend time on red and yellow and skip green and blue. Then the test asks what a blue rectangle means and they draw a blank — it's services (gas, food, hospital, rest area).