How to use owe in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Owe means to be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone. Example: “We owe it to our children to make our nation a better place to live in the future.”

Examples of owe by meaning

verbTo be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.

We owe it to our children to make our nation a better place to live in the future.
I owe Kevin five bucks which he lent to me last week.
This time I'll cover for you, but now you owe me a favour.

verbTo have as a cause; used with to.

The record owes its success to the outstanding guitar solos.

More sentences with owe

We owe them a debt of gratitude for taking care of our pets.From the entry debt
We owe them our thanks for bringing the project to a successful close.From the entry close
Here's the twenty bucks I owe you, a ten spot and two five spots.From the entry spot
It was a surprise to find out I owed twice as much as I thought.From the entry surprise
Imagine my surprise on learning I owed twice as much as I thought I did.From the entry surprise
He's owed it to us for six months, but it doesn't look very collectible to me.From the entry collectible
I will deduct the cost of the can of peas from the money I owe you.From the entry deduct
So what this boils down to is that you still owe me that fifty bucks.From the entry boil down
He paid back all the money he owed her, with interest.From the entry pay back
Never was so much owed by so many to so few.From the entry so many
His miscomputation of the amount of tax he owed increased his tax bill.From the entry miscomputation
Fred was giving me grief over the money I owed him.From the entry give someone grief
That scumbag still owes me five grand. Send Billy round to put the frighteners on him.From the entry put the frighteners on someone
You owe it to yourself to take a break and relax.From the entry owe it to oneself
Yo, you seen Bobby? That scro still owes me ten bucks.From the entry scro
Balance up his account so he knows how much he owes.From the entry balance down
He owes me about three hundred dollars.From the entry about
She is quite the humble servant, the poor in this city owe much to her but she expects nothing.From the entry servant
Dylan owes Fletcher $30 from an unsuccessful bet.From the entry bet
They still owe three months’ back rent.From the entry back
I owe him; he did me a solid last year.From the entry solid
That cowson still owes me five quid.From the entry cowson
Once you've submitted a tax return, the Tax Department will assess the amount of tax you still owe.From the entry assess
We owe it to a small group of brave whistle-blowers that we know about the infractions at all.From the entry whistle-blower
He still owes me a five-star so I try not to let him catch me with my shirt off.From the entry five-star
Eventually, he'll cough over the money he owes.From the entry cough over
The tenant owed a variety of obligations to his overlord—usually including military service or serjeanty—but these were gradually converted into monetary rents.From the entry overlord
I owe them an unacquittable debt.From the entry unacquittable
Most feudal obligations were owed to the chief lord of the estate, but others were owed only and directly to the king of the realm.From the entry chief lord
"You owe it to your kids to not reproduce with a hiplet," one video says.2026 June 25, Ellissa Bain, “Here's what 'hiplet' means on TikTok as men start disgusting new trend that's so toxic”, in The Tab, archived…. From the entry hiplet
"Aerographene" owes this ability to its unique structure at the nano level.2021 November 15, “Nanomaterial 'aerographene' used to create extremely powerful pumps”, in Phys.org, archived from the original on 22 Oct…. From the entry nano
The exhibit concluded with the statement about what the modern world owes to the Age of Revolution.2018, Alan J. Singer, “Politics of Historical Memory”, in New York’s Grand Emancipation Jubilee: Essays on Slavery, Resistance, Abolition…. From the entry new normal
But the club’s predicament owes more to the topsy-turviness of Russian soccer than to some historic hoodoo.2016 February 11, Sean Williams, “The downfall of a Russian soccer team”, in The New Yorker. From the entry topsy-turviness
Just because a guy treats a woman with respect does not mean she owes him anything.2014, Shira Stein, "Are nice guys actually as nice as they seem?", The Highlander (Carlmont High School, Belmont, CA), April 2014, page 3. From the entry nice guy syndrome
Man, you ste-ill owes me one Alex Hamilton and 'at all they is to it.2014, Keith G. Laufenberg, “The Delivery”, in The Tower of Power, 2nd edition, Florida: Royal Crown Royal, →ISBN, book 1 (The Car…. From the entry Alex Hamilton
Lots a people still owe me a solid or two on the Job.2012, Robert Cea, No Lights, No Sirens: The Corruption and Redemption of an Inner City Cop, page 61. From the entry solid

Meaning of owe

verb To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
verb To have debt; to be in debt.
verb To have as a cause; used with to.

Full definition of owe

Questions about owe in a sentence

How do you use owe in a sentence?: Owe is used as a verb. For example: “We owe it to our children to make our nation a better place to live in the future.”
What is a short sentence with owe?: “I owe them an unacquittable debt.”
What does owe mean?: Owe means to be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.

Adapted from Wiktionary: owe (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use owe in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/owe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.