how do you guys figure this out? I’m having so much trouble learning where it goes, I always get it wrong ):
がつ is used almost exclusively for the names of months (一月、二月、三月、…) and New Years’ activities.
The main exception to this is 何月 (“what month?”). However, you can think of this as a generalization of the names of the months; just replace 何 with the number of the correct month.
なんがつ?
さんがつ!
(It even rhymes!)
For everything else, げつ is a fairly bet.
It may help to remember that just as in English, the name of every month includes an a:
January
February
March
April
May
Jane
Julia
August
Septamber
Actober
Navambar
Aaaaaaaaamber
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You are my new favourite person.
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thank you!!
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What about the sun / day kanji…
I’ve seen --kka or -tsuka for number of days.
also seen nichi and jitsu for certain onyomi readings. So confusing.
If it involves a number, use がつ. (何月 is not an exception as it may seem, it is asking for a month number).
Otherwise げつ is how I keep 'em straight.
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For day-of-the-month numbers 2-10, it’s kun’yomi+か. For the 14th and 24th, it’s a combination of on’yomi and kun’yomi, just to be special - じゅうよっか and にじゅうよっか. For the 20th of the month, it’s a special exception はつか. 1st of the month is also weird - ついたち.
For basically every other usage of 日 as a counter, it’s on’yomi+にち. Otherwise, it tends to be (but isn’t always) じつ.
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I just focus more on the reading when learning the word rather than the kanji. I use the kanji as a hint to remember the reading. If I don’t remember いちげつ than I’m gonna type いちがつ. 
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