I keep confusing these, forgetting whether to put that topside tick on top of 宝, say, so maybe you do to. As part of my study, I'm going to make up a list and note the distinctions.
These radicals are listen in the Kangxi Dictionary; go
here and scroll to the bottom for a complete list.
一. I think this at the top of something can be many things, but I often take it as the surface of the earth. 死, "death," has the moon and a dead guy under the earth. 昔, むかし, "long ago," as the sun under the horizon and two grave sites above. (I know this is not historically accurate, but we do what we can to remember.)
亠 is described as a lid. This works for me for 亨 ("enjoy," which I remember as enjoying a pot of baby limas) and 京 ("capital"; I picture it as a Chinese lantern, with its rooflike lid). Sometimes Henshall says to take it as a top hat. For me, it works as a mortarboard/graduation cap, in 卒 (graduates -- persons on a podium with a mortarboard).
冖, "cover cloth." 軍 ("army") uses this; I picture it as covering a truck or tank so it can't be seen by the enemy. 夢 (ゆめ, "dream"): 艹 details from the dream catcher (罒, "net") of someone under the 冖covers at 夕night. (I sometimes interpret 艹 as "details" rather than "grass" if that helps.)
宀, roof of a house. Shows up all over. 寝 (sleep, presumably inside under the roof) is one example.
厂, "cliff." 原 (はら, "origin") shows a spring under a cliff, that is, the origin of the spring. 歴 (REKI, history/path) shows a foot(path) up past the trees near the cliff's top, as I see it. In either case, we're out of doors.
广. Originally a house on a cliff, but I'll just say "shed," because the cliff's often irrelevant to whatever mnemonic I use. 店, store: there's a table and a cash register in that shed. 庫, warehouse: shed with cars in it. 磨, polish: use the bristles from trees and a rock, in your shed, to polish things.
ㅅ, as in 験, 合, 今, 介. There are different things this is shaped like, and I'm seeing it as 人 (person), 入 (enter), as well as something about an incisor (!) and a roof. To me roof works best, but... we already have roof. だめ. Roof of a cabin or cottage? Fortunately it looks so different from all the others here I rarely get them confused.
戸, door, is unmistakable, and shows up in 所 (ところ, place); 肩 (かた, shoulder -- the part of the flesh you put into a door to break it down).
尸, corpse. But I find that a stretch in many cases, so I think of it as an awning for a vendor stand or some other small public building. 尿, "urine": an awning for privacy at a Porta-Potty. 漏, "leak": rain getting in as water splashes onto your awning.
𠃜 is described as a variant of 尸, to which I say, "Thanks for clearing that up." But I'm also reading, but haven't confirmed, that it only shows up twice: in 声 "voice" and 眉 "eyebrow." I suppose I can memorize two exceptions. 巴, as in 色, clearly isn't rooflike so I'm going to ignore its similarity.
斤, axe, looks shedlike but it's coincidence.
Lots of subtleties. But I have got to find some way to remember whether there's a topknot on 歴 or磨, on 軍 or 庫.
If I made any awful errors, please let me know. I don't care if I got the history of the character right, so much, but I do want things to be easy to remember.
