Double Entendre
Also known as double meaning
A word or phrase with two meanings at once, usually one innocent and one suggestive, so a line can say what the speaker never says outright: ‘I've been dying to get my hands on your figures.’
- Innocent reading
- She wants the quarterly numbers.
- Suggestive reading
- She's flirting with him.
In practice
A double entendre is a word or phrase that can be understood two ways, where one meaning is plain and the other is usually suggestive. The speaker can always claim the innocent meaning, and the audience hears the other one anyway. That deniability is the device: the line flirts, insults or confesses while keeping an exit open.
The phrase comes from an obsolete French expression for “double meaning”; Merriam-Webster dates its first known use in English to 1673. French speakers today say double sens or sous-entendu instead. In English it has long meant a double meaning with a risqué edge, though writers also use it for any line that works on two levels.
On screen, a double entendre is dialogue doing two jobs. A character says something acceptable to the room, and the audience, or one other character, catches what lies under it. It belongs beside subtext: the more a scene depends on what can't be said aloud, the more a double meaning earns its place.
Two meanings, one deniable line
INT. ACCOUNTING FIRM - CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT
Empty takeout boxes. DANA (40s) and the new hire, OWEN (30s), are the last ones left. She slides a binder toward him.
DANA
I've been dying to get my hands on your figures.
OWEN
They're not as impressive as people say.
Dana holds his look a beat too long, then opens the binder.
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Every word is about spreadsheets, so either of them can retreat to the literal meaning. Owen's reply plays along without committing, and the action line tells the actor where the second meaning lives: in the held look, not in the words.
Double entendre examples, and why they work
Shakespeare's audiences heard them everywhere. When Hamlet asks Ophelia whether she thought he meant “country matters,” the bawdy pun is the point, and the scene uses it to show how cruel he has become in public.
Family films use them to reach two audiences at once: a line that plays as a simple joke for a child and as an adult joke for the parent beside them. The test is that the innocent reading must be complete on its own. If a child would ask what's funny, the line has tipped into plain innuendo.
Song lyrics, slogans and headlines lean on them because a second meaning makes a short line memorable. A script needs the same economy: one line can set up attraction, rivalry or a secret without a speech.
Double entendre vs. innuendo, pun and subtext
Innuendo is an indirect hint, usually unflattering or sexual, and it needs no clean second meaning. ‘I hear he works late a lot,’ said with a raised eyebrow, is innuendo. A double entendre always has an innocent reading the speaker can hide behind.
A pun plays with two meanings of a word for the fun of it, and both readings usually sit on the surface. A double entendre hides one of them. Subtext is broader still: everything a scene means beneath its words. A double entendre is one compact way to put subtext into a single line.
How to write a double entendre in a screenplay
Start from the literal situation. The innocent meaning has to belong to the scene, as figures belong to an audit, so the line sounds natural to anyone who only hears the surface.
Choose words with a real second sense rather than forcing one. Everyday words for handling, wanting, finishing and rising have carried second meanings for centuries; an invented one makes the audience work too hard and loses the deniability.
Give the listener a reaction. The second meaning lands when someone in the scene catches it, misses it or pretends to miss it. Put that reaction in the reply or the action line, and keep the dialogue itself straight-faced.
Use them sparingly. One per scene reads as wit; several in a row turn the characters into comedians and the scene into a sketch. In Plot, keep the plain version of the scene as a separate take and compare the two side by side before you choose.
Common questions
What is a double entendre?
A double entendre is a word or phrase with two meanings, usually one innocent and one suggestive. The speaker can claim the innocent meaning while the audience hears the other.
What language is double entendre?
It comes from an obsolete French phrase meaning “double meaning.” English borrowed it in the seventeenth century, and modern French says double sens or sous-entendu instead.
Is a double entendre always sexual?
No. The classic double entendre has a risqué second meaning, but writers also use the term for any line that works on two levels, such as a threat disguised as a compliment.
What is the difference between a double entendre and innuendo?
A double entendre has an innocent reading the speaker can hide behind. Innuendo is a hint, usually unflattering or sexual, that doesn't need a clean second meaning.