Start with the cheap checks: the dictionary set for the book's language, then a fresh download of the dictionary, then a restart. If the message says there are no dictionaries on your device, a December 2025 report traced that to a firmware change and a delivery fix on Amazon's site. Image-only books can never look words up.
Look up a few very common words in the same book. Asurion's guide (it shows no date, only a 2026 copyright) starts there: if common words work, the dictionary may not have the rare word you tried. Try another book too. If every word fails in every book, it is the device. If it fails in one book only, it is that book.
A Kindle uses one default dictionary per language, so an English book needs an English dictionary and a Spanish book needs a Spanish one. Asurion gives the path as Settings, then Language & Dictionaries. LingoBlend (July 2026, updated October 2026) writes it as Settings, then Language and Dictionaries, then Dictionaries, where you pick a default for each language. The wording varies by model and firmware, so look for the nearest match.
The same guide says that if no dictionary is installed for a language, long-pressing a word prompts a download. That is the quiet failure: the popup opens and has nothing to show.
Asurion's next step is to remove the downloaded copy of the dictionary, with "Remove Download" rather than permanent deletion, and download it again on Wi-Fi. If a dictionary will not download on the device at all, the December 2025 report below shows another route: send it from your account on Amazon's website. Its author used the Manage Content and Devices area to find the dictionary and deliver it to the Kindle.
This one is specific, so it is kept to what the source says. On 5 December 2025, Nathan Groezinger of The eBook Reader blog wrote that a Kindle Paperwhite on software 5.18.6 had its lookup panel redesigned. A word lookup then showed "There are no dictionaries on your device", and the Oxford Dictionary of English stuck at "queued" in the library. A restart did not help. What worked was delivering the dictionary from the Amazon site, and removing it from another registered Kindle when asked.
The same post reported that the dictionary "can only be download to six Kindles at a time now", though the author's own account allowed five. Treat that limit as one person's observation, not Amazon policy.
Comments under the post are mixed. A reader said in February 2026 that version 5.19.2 did not fix it. Another, with an 11th generation Paperwhite, tried customer service, a store download, soft and hard restarts, refreshing Wi-Fi and a hotspot, and only a full factory reset worked. A reader on a 12th generation Kindle reported on 2 April 2026 that the missing option to open the full dictionary from a definition was still unresolved. Back up anything you care about before a factory reset, and note that this is a reader's report, not advice from Amazon.
Restart, wait for it to finish loading, and test a common word in the same book, as Asurion suggests. If lookups fail across several books with the right dictionary selected, check Settings for a software update. Menus differ by model. The December 2025 case above is a reminder that an update can also be the cause, so if the trouble started right after one, the delivery fix in step 2 is the first thing to try.
The app side is thinner. In a July 2025 MobileRead thread called Kindle for Android new release, dictionaries, a user reported after app updates 8.125.0.100 and 8.124.0.100 that the dictionary in use could not be changed. Another poster thought the trouble was switching, not downloading. What fixed it was signing out and back in, which also removed the downloaded books, so they had to be downloaded again. A restart alone did not help. No Amazon statement on any of this could be found.
If you use the app and nothing works, the plain order is: restart the app, update it, then reinstall. Reinstalling or signing out can remove downloaded books, so make sure you can download them again.
No fix will help here. Amazon's KDP help lists fixed-layout formats with image pop-ups, virtual panels (manga) and text pop-ups as having "No text selection, dictionary, or user font settings". If the page is a picture of text, there is no text for the Kindle to select. The same goes for scans. Fixed layout without pop-ups does list dictionary lookup, with the note that some devices do not support text selection.
For a book open in Kindle for Mac, or any PDF, scan or image on a Mac, LeafyApp reads the pixels rather than the book's text. Press ⌥A, drag a box over the word, and macOS text recognition reads that patch of screen. An AI explanation for the word as that sentence uses it appears under it, and the word is saved with its sentence, source and date. It works where the popup cannot, such as a manga page on a Mac screen.
It does not fix your Kindle, and it is Mac only. It has not been tried on a Kindle for Mac window, so test one page first. Only the word and its sentence leave your Mac; the privacy page has the rest. If your trouble is a missing word on a PDF, see how to OCR a PDF on a Mac.
Why is my Kindle dictionary not working?
Usual causes, in order: no dictionary set for the book's language, a dictionary that failed to download, a restart that is needed, or a book that is an image with no selectable text. A December 2025 report also links it to a firmware change.
Why does my Kindle Paperwhite say there are no dictionaries on the device?
A December 2025 post on The eBook Reader blog reported this message on a Paperwhite running 5.18.6, with the dictionary stuck at queued. The author's fix was to deliver the dictionary to the Kindle from Amazon's website.
Why can't the Kindle app download a dictionary?
No Amazon explanation could be found. A July 2025 MobileRead thread describes dictionary switching failing in the Android app after an update, fixed by signing out and in, which removed the poster's downloaded books.
Why did my Kindle dictionary disappear?
The December 2025 report describes a lookup panel update after which the device said it had no dictionaries, and a re-delivery from Amazon's website restored it. Also check Language & Dictionaries in Settings, in case the default was reset.
Why does the Kindle dictionary not work on manga or PDFs?
Amazon's KDP help says fixed-layout manga and comic formats have no text selection or dictionary. A page that is a picture of text has no words for the Kindle to select.
Free while LeafyApp is in beta. One download, macOS 14 and up.
Also worth a look: looking up a word on a Mac, copying text you can't select, or Kindle Vocabulary Builder on iPhone and apps.
Kindle, Paperwhite and Amazon are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Oxford Dictionary of English is a trademark of its respective owner. LeafyApp is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon, and the names are used here only to describe compatibility.