Does Pleco Have a Korean Dictionary?
No. Pleco's site and App Store listing describe Chinese dictionaries only, with no Korean one. It is known for keeping many tools in one app: licensed dictionaries, a camera that reads Chinese, lookup by drawing, a reader for documents, and flashcards.
Korean has apps for each of those jobs, though they're spread across a few apps. Below, they're grouped by the lookup you need. For Korean courses and story apps, see our best apps to learn Korean.
Which Korean Apps Offer What Pleco Offers?
| What Pleco Offers | Korean Apps That Offer It |
|---|---|
| Many dictionaries in one app | Naver Dictionary |
| Point the camera at text | Papago |
| Look up a word by drawing it | Papago, Naver Dictionary (Hanja, on the web) |
| A breakdown of a sentence you paste in | Mirinae |
| Tap a word while you read | Bubblegum (in its lessons), Mirinae (on web pages) |
Korean You Can Read, With Every Word Explained
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Korean. You learn from Korean you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
In Bubblegum, the dictionary sits inside the Korean you read. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons about what you like, and you can ask her about any line that's hard to follow.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't look up Korean you found somewhere else. For that, the apps below are the better fit.
- Tap any word in a lesson to see what it means.
- See the Hanja behind a word, the Chinese characters it comes from.
- Poppy writes each lesson at your level, so you look up fewer words.
- Words you save come back in later lessons through Regenerative Review™.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- It explains its own lessons only, so it can't read a menu or a book for you.
- 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 Hangul
Mobile
Korean Dictionaries and Translators
Naver Dictionary
Naver Dictionary is made by NAVER, the same company that makes Papago. Its app also has quizzes and a pronunciation check. It suits learners who want many dictionaries for one Korean word.
- 70 dictionaries with about 30 million headwords in one app.
- Korean dictionaries for 11 languages, including English.
- A Hanja dictionary and handwriting input on its website.
- Doesn't teach Hangul
MobileWeb
Papago
Papago is NAVER's translator app for 14 languages, with a dictionary for extra meanings of a word. Its Edu mode turns a photo of study material into your own notes and word lists. It suits learners who need to read signs, menus, or handwriting while out in Korea.
- Snap a photo, and Papago finds and translates the Korean in it.
- Write a word with your finger to see what it means.
- Text translation works offline.
- Doesn't teach Hangul
MobileWeb
Korean Sentences Broken Down
Mirinae
Mirinae explains a whole Korean sentence at once, and draws a tree of its phrases. Tap any part of its breakdown for more examples and links to textbooks. It suits learners who are reading lyrics or drama lines and want to know why each word is there.
- Paste a Korean sentence to see each part of speech and grammar pattern.
- Particles, honorifics, verb endings, and idioms are explained.
- A Chrome extension works on web pages and on Netflix, Viki, and YouTube subtitles.
- Teaches Hangul
MobileWeb
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Korean app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Korean, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Naver Dictionary if you mainly need to look words up, because its App Store listing says all of its dictionaries are free. Add Mirinae once you read longer Korean.
Can Pleco help with Hanja?
Pleco's pages describe Chinese dictionaries only, with Chinese readings in pinyin and zhuyin. For the Korean reading of a Hanja, Naver's Hanja dictionary is made for that, and Bubblegum shows the Hanja behind words in its lessons.
Is there one Korean app that does everything Pleco does?
Not among the apps we checked. Naver Dictionary, Papago, and Mirinae each cover part of it, and two of them come from the same company, NAVER.
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: App Store listing (Chinese dictionaries, live OCR, handwriting input, document reader, flashcards)
- Pleco: Home page (Chinese dictionary apps for iPhone, iPad and Android)
- NAVER Dictionary: App Store listing (70 dictionaries, 11 Korean bilingual dictionaries, quiz, pronunciation)
- NAVER Dictionary: Web dictionary home (Korean, Hanja and other language dictionaries, handwriting input)
- Papago: App Store listing (image, voice, handwriting and offline translation in 14 languages)
- Mirinae: App Store listing (sentence breakdowns, grammar patterns, Chrome extension)
- Bubblegum
- Papago
- Mirinae
Checked on October 14, 2026 against each app's own pages.
