Denotative meaning of a word is _________.

The correct answer is: factual meaning or basic meaning.

Explanation:
The denotative meaning (or denotation) of a word refers to its direct, literal, dictionary, or basic factual meaning. It describes what a word explicitly signifies without any emotional associations, figurative interpretations, or secondary cultural connotations.

Let's evaluate the given options:

1. factual meaning or basic meaning: This is correct, as denotation represents the exact literal definition of a word.
2. much more than what a word actually means: This describes connotative meaning, which includes implied or suggested emotional associations.
3. figurative meaning: This refers to non-literal language uses such as metaphors, similes, or idioms.
4. grammatical meaning: This refers to the role a word plays within the structure of a sentence (such as part of speech, tense, or number).

Therefore, denotative meaning is defined as the direct factual meaning or basic meaning of a word.