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Read a road sign by its shape and color

Road signs follow one national system, so a sign’s shape and color tell you what kind of sign it is, even before you can read it.

  • STOP

    Stop

    Octagon

    Only stop signs have eight sides. Come to a full stop.

  • YIELD

    Yield

    Triangle, point down

    Slow down and let traffic and people already there go first.

  • DO NOTENTER

    Do not enter

    Red circle with a white bar

    You would be going the wrong way. Don’t drive in.

  • SPEEDLIMIT25

    Speed limit

    White rectangle

    A rule you must obey: the most you may drive there, in good conditions.

  • Curve ahead

    Diamond

    A warning: a hazard or change in the road is coming up.

  • RR

    Railroad ahead

    Round

    Only railroad advance warning signs are round. Look and listen for trains.

  • School

    Pentagon

    Five sides: a school zone or school crossing. Watch for children.

  • NOPASSINGZONE

    No passing zone

    Pennant

    On the left side of the road: passing is not allowed from here.

Every state's road sign test, one sign at a time, with each answer explained.

Take your state's road sign test

What the colors mean

  • Red Stop, yield, or not allowed
  • Yellow General warning
  • Orange Work zone
  • Yellow-green School, people walking, bikes
  • White Rules you must obey
  • Green Directions and distances
  • Blue Services for drivers
  • Brown Parks and recreation

Why shape and color come first

You often see a sign before you can read it: from a distance, in rain, at night, or from the side. That's why the system gives each kind of message its own shape and color. A stop sign is the only eight-sided sign, so you can recognise it even from behind or under snow. Yellow always means a warning and orange always means work on the road, so the color alone tells you to take care before the words come into focus.

These meanings are set nationally, in the MUTCD (the federal sign rulebook), and all 50 states use them. Your state's handbook shows the signs it expects you to know, and your state's road sign test on Yield & Go uses those.

The six sign groups on the permit test

Every state's road sign practice is split into these groups, so you can work on one kind of sign at a time.

  • Regulatory signs

    They state a law: what you must do, or must not do. Most are white rectangles with black or red lettering; stop and yield have shapes of their own so you know them at a glance.

    Examples: Stop, yield, speed limit, do not enter, one way, no turns

  • Warning signs

    Black symbols on yellow, nearly always a diamond. They don’t give an order; they tell you about something ahead that may need you to slow down or take care.

    Examples: Curves, hills, merging traffic, slippery road, deer crossing

  • Work zone signs

    The warning shapes in orange. Orange means the road layout may differ from normal: lanes can shift or close, and workers or equipment may be close to traffic.

    Examples: Road work ahead, lane closed, flagger ahead, detour

  • Guide and service signs

    Information rather than rules: green for routes, directions and distances, blue for services along the road, brown for parks and places of interest.

    Examples: Exit and route signs, gas and food, hospital, state park

  • Railroad and school signs

    Two shapes kept for special places. A round yellow sign is only used before a railroad crossing; a five-sided yellow or yellow-green sign marks a school zone or a school crossing.

    Examples: Railroad advance warning, crossbuck, school zone, school crossing

  • Shapes and colors on their own

    Test questions sometimes show only an outline or a color, with no words or symbol, to check you can name the kind of sign from its shape or color alone.

    Examples: An octagon, a pennant, a pentagon, an orange diamond

How states test road signs

Most states ask about signs inside the written knowledge test, mixed in with the rules of the road. 4 states (Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina) describe road sign tests of their own. 5 more (Georgia, Indiana, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin) mark signs as a separate part of the test that has to be passed by itself. Whichever way your state does it, the 20-sign test on your state's page is a quick check that you know them.

Practice your state's road signs

Each state's page uses the signs from its own handbook, with the page to read after each answer.