Here is one I thought of 2 years ago but never posted it. Maybe it helps someone, somewhere.
未 and 末 are similar, but the long horizontal line is in a different place on each of them.
1) 未 means “not yet”
2) 末 means “end” or “tip”
notice that on the 2) kanji, the long horizontal line is at the top, and on the 1) kanji the long line is in the middle.
It’s moving up, and it’s “not yet” at the “tip”.
3 comments
this is more pronunciation, but:
持つ – もつ – to hold – the も kana curls like a hand holding something
待つ – まつ – to wait – the ま is standing up straight at attention
If you forgot which was which, a good rule of thumb is reading the entire sentence. Context can usually tell you what is the right vocab.
右 and 左 – 右 has 口 in it because you use your right hand to eat (since the left one is unclean, as commonly believed in Asia, especially in China)