Learn the kanji through components and connections.
This list includes all the atomic and composite components with variants appearing in two or more of the 3,500 most important kanji in everyday modern Japanese. They are presented in order of how many times they appear inside those 3,500 kanji. Each component is shown with its English keyword, and those components serving as sound components are also given a reading in katakana.
If you don't know what any of that means, don't worry about it. This list is a reference tool for intermediate-level kanji students interested in self-assessing their progress. For some basic information on what these kanji components are, and how they were derived, please take a look at the atomic components.
Most of these components are characters in their own right, especially as you go further down the list. Those components which aren't used as standalone characters in everyday modern Japanese are placed inside a circle.