Esta frase tiene dos sentidos.

Because frase is a feminine noun in Spanish, so it takes the feminine demonstrative esta.

• este = this, for masculine singular nouns
• esta = this, for feminine singular nouns

Examples:

• este libro = this book
• esta frase = this sentence/phrase

Even though frase ends in -e, it is still feminine. Noun gender does not always depend on the ending, so this is something you often just have to learn with the word.

In modern Spanish spelling, esta normally does not take an accent when it is a demonstrative adjective, as in esta frase.

Here, esta is directly describing the noun frase, so it means this.

Older spelling sometimes used ésta when the word stood alone as a pronoun, but current standard Spanish generally avoids that accent except in very rare cases where ambiguity really needs to be cleared up.

So in this sentence, esta without an accent is completely standard.

Because Spanish often uses tener for the idea of having meanings, interpretations, or senses.

So:

• La frase tiene dos sentidos = The sentence has two meanings/senses

Using es would change the structure and the meaning:

• La frase es ambigua = The sentence is ambiguous

Both can be correct in different contexts, but they are not the same grammatical pattern.

Tiene is the third person singular form of the verb tener in the present tense.

Conjugation of tener in the present:

• yo tengo
• tú tienes
• él/ella/usted tiene
• nosotros/nosotras tenemos
• vosotros/vosotras tenéis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes tienen

Here the subject is esta frase, which is singular, so the verb must be tiene.

Because after dos, the noun must be plural.

• un sentido = one meaning/sense
• dos sentidos = two meanings/senses

Spanish plural nouns usually add -s if they end in a vowel:

• sentido → sentidos

So dos sentidos is just normal number agreement.

Here, sentido means something like sense, meaning, or interpretation.

So dos sentidos means:

• two meanings
• two possible interpretations
• two senses

In this context, it often suggests that the sentence can be understood in more than one way.

Be careful, though: sentido has several meanings in Spanish, including:

• meaning/sense
• direction
• feeling
• one of the physical senses

So context is very important.

They are related, but not always exactly the same.

• significado = meaning, often in a more direct or dictionary-like sense
• sentido = sense, meaning, interpretation, nuance, or possible reading

In this sentence, dos sentidos sounds very natural if you mean the phrase can be interpreted in two ways.

Compare:

• Esta palabra tiene un significado claro. = This word has a clear meaning.
• Esta frase tiene dos sentidos. = This sentence has two possible meanings/readings.

So sentido often works especially well when talking about ambiguity or different interpretations.

Yes, you probably could, and people would understand you. It would mean this sentence has two meanings.

However, dos sentidos can sound a bit more natural when you want to emphasize two possible interpretations rather than two separate dictionary meanings.

So:

• dos significados = two meanings
• dos sentidos = two senses / two ways of understanding it

The difference is small in many situations, but sentidos often fits ambiguity especially well.

This is a very common question.

In everyday English, both can sometimes be translated as sentence, but in Spanish they are not always the same.

• frase = phrase, expression, or sentence in a broad everyday sense
• oración = sentence in a grammatical sense, usually with a verb

So in grammar:

• an oración typically has a conjugated verb
• a frase may or may not

In everyday speech, though, people often use frase quite loosely for something someone said or wrote.

In your example, frase sounds natural because the focus is on the wording and its possible interpretations.

Because after tener, Spanish usually does not use an indefinite article when talking about quantity in this kind of structure.

So:

• tiene dos sentidos = it has two meanings

You would not normally say:

• tiene unos dos sentidos in this context

Spanish often leaves out the article where English also would:

• has two meanings
• tiene dos sentidos

Yes, you could change the word order, because Spanish is more flexible than English. But the normal, neutral order is:

• Esta frase tiene dos sentidos.

If you say:

• Tiene dos sentidos esta frase.

it sounds more marked or emphatic, as if you are highlighting this sentence in contrast with something else.

So for a learner, the original order is the safest and most natural default.

A rough pronunciation in standard Peninsular Spanish would be:

EH-sta FRA-seh TYEH-neh dos sen-THEE-dos

A few notes:

• esta → stress on the first syllable
• frase → stress on fra
• tiene → usually sounds like two syllables: tie-ne
• sentidos → stress on ti
• In much of Spain, c/z before e/i sounds like th in think, but this sentence does not contain that sound.
• The d in sentidos is often softer than an English d

A more phonetic approximation for Spain is: [ˈes.ta ˈfɾa.se ˈtje.ne dos senˈti.ðos]

Yes, very likely. Esta frase tiene dos sentidos strongly suggests that the phrase can be understood in two different ways.

A very close idea in English would be:

• This sentence has two meanings
• This sentence is ambiguous

They are not exactly the same structure, but the practical meaning is very similar.

Yes. Outside this sentence, sentidos can mean several things depending on context, for example:

• the senses: los cinco sentidos
• directions: en ambos sentidos = in both directions
• feelings or awareness in some contexts

But in Esta frase tiene dos sentidos, the context clearly points to two meanings or two interpretations, not physical senses or directions.