Does Pleco Have a Japanese Dictionary?
No. Every dictionary Pleco's site and App Store listing describe is for Chinese. Pleco is known for putting many tools in one app: dictionaries, a camera that reads Chinese text, lookup by drawing a character, a reader that explains a document word by word, and flashcards.
Japanese has dictionary apps that do each of these things, and some do several. They're sorted below by when you need a lookup, and courses and reading apps are in our best apps to learn Japanese.
Which Japanese Apps Offer What Pleco Offers?
| What Pleco Offers | Japanese Apps That Offer It |
|---|---|
| Look up a word by drawing it | imiwa? |
| Point the camera at text to look it up | imiwa? |
| Find a kanji by its parts | imiwa?, Takoboto |
| Tap a word in something you're reading | Bubblegum (in its lessons), imiwa? (images and PDFs), Yomitan (web pages) |
| Flashcards for words you look up | imiwa?, Yomitan (through Anki) |
Japanese You Can Read, With Every Word Explained
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Japanese. You learn from Japanese you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
A dictionary helps most when you have something to read. In Bubblegum, Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Japanese at a level where you can follow most of the words, on topics you choose. Tap a new word to see what it means, and the words you save show up again in later lessons.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum isn't a dictionary for a sign or a book. For that, the dictionary apps below are the better fit.
- Tap any word in a lesson to see its meaning and reading.
- Poppy writes each lesson at your level, so most words are ones you can follow.
- Ask Poppy about a word or a grammar point in the sentence.
- Saved words return inside new lessons through Regenerative Review™, with no flashcards to keep up.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- It explains words in its own lessons only, so it can't look up text you found elsewhere.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches Kana
Mobile
Japanese Dictionary Apps for Your Phone
imiwa?
imiwa? puts many lookup tools in one app, much as Pleco does for Chinese. Its site lists about 218,000 entries, a names dictionary, stroke order animations for thousands of kanji, and Tae Kim's grammar guide built in. It suits learners on an iPhone who want one app for every lookup.
- Look up kanji by handwriting, radicals, or their parts.
- Point the camera at Japanese, or open an image or PDF, and tap any word.
- Paste a sentence to see it broken into words, with each verb form explained.
- The whole dictionary works offline.
- Flashcards
- Teaches Kana (partly)
Mobile
Takoboto
Takoboto is a Japanese–English dictionary that runs on Android, iPhone, and the web. Pick several radicals and it finds the kanji they make, and it shows pitch accent. It suits learners who look words up on a phone and a computer.
- Search by kanji, kana, romaji, or English as you type.
- Example sentences and kanji details for each word.
- Verb forms are listed and can be searched too.
- Keep your own word lists, or use ready-made study lists.
- Flashcards
- Teaches Kana (partly)
MobileWeb
Lookups While You Read Japanese
Yomitan
Yomitan is a free browser extension that adds a pop-up dictionary to any Japanese web page. It does for web pages what Pleco's document reader does for Chinese files. It suits learners who read Japanese online and already use Anki.
- Hover over a word and press a key to see its meaning and hear it.
- Send a word to your Anki deck with one key.
- Works in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, and on Android.
- Doesn't teach Kana
Browser extension
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Japanese app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Japanese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Takoboto if you only need a dictionary, because it also works in your browser. Add imiwa? if you have an iPhone and want camera lookup.
Can Pleco help with kanji?
Not for Japanese. Pleco's App Store listing shows readings in pinyin and zhuyin, which spell Chinese sounds. A Japanese dictionary shows how a kanji is read in Japanese, written in kana.
How do I look up a kanji I can't type?
Draw it in imiwa?, or pick its parts in imiwa? or Takoboto. Takoboto's site says its radical search covers 13,108 kanji.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Pleco: Home page (Chinese dictionaries, OCR, handwriting, flashcards, document reader)
- Pleco: App Store listing (an integrated Chinese dictionary, document reader and flashcard system)
- imiwa?: Japanese dictionary for iPhone and iPad (offline, handwriting, camera and PDF lookup, SRS flashcards)
- Takoboto: Japanese dictionary and study tool (kanji, kana or romaji search, radicals, example sentences)
- Takoboto: App Store listing (200,000+ words, conjugations, study lists, pitch accent)
- Yomitan: Free browser extension (pop-up lookups, audio, Anki, Android support)
- Bubblegum
- Takoboto
Checked on October 14, 2026 against each app's own pages.
