So in one way it can mean exercise, often at the gym, designed to 'get fit'. We can use 'work out' in a noun form, 'workout' and therefore use it like this: "I went for a workout before dinner". As a verb, it depends what tense or with what other verbs you are using it. Here are a few examples: "I like working out". "I like to work out". "I was working out at the gym when the phone rang". I work out every night before my dinner". Other meanings include: Solve a problem - "I worked out a difficult maths problem today" Try to understand something/someone better - "I couldn't work out Tom earlier, he was in such a strange mood and I couldn't tell if he was happy or sad" When something goes well - "My job didn't work out so I quit".

:)