You need Cells not Range:
Cells
Range
ws.Cells(j, l).ClearContents
Oops - forgot about the merged bit:
If Cells(j, l).MergeCells Then Cells(j, l).MergeArea.ClearContents Else Cells(j, l).ClearContents End If
Try
Range("A1:A20").Value = ""
No matter cells are merged or not this will work everytime.
Range("").value = ""