just to clarify, this article from Chinese StackExchange describes the difference between a 字典 (character dictionary) and a 词典 (word dictionary) in the following way:
I don't think they are necessarily different kinds of dictionaries, but is there a subtle distinction? Or maybe their etymologies?
chinese.stackexchange.com
Almost all larger Chinese-English dictionaries that are available through Pleco are both 字典 and 词典, i.e. they contain both character and word definitions.