Fence vs. Gate — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on November 6, 2023
A fence is a barrier enclosing an area, while a gate is a movable barrier within a fence or wall for entry and exit.
Difference Between Fence and Gate
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A fence is primarily a structure serving as a barrier, boundary, or means of protection or confinement. They are continuous and enclose an area to prevent entry or escape. Gates, however, are points of entry and exit within a fence or wall, operating as doors do for a room. They are functional elements that allow passage through the otherwise continuous boundary provided by a fence.
Fences and gates serve complementary functions: a fence without a gate restricts access completely, while a gate without a fence serves little purpose. Fences can be constructed from various materials such as wood, metal, or vinyl and can take on many styles and heights. A gate, while it can be made from the same materials as the fence it accompanies, must also incorporate hinges, latches, or other mechanisms to allow it to open and close.
In terms of security and privacy, fences provide a steady and constant barrier, which can be designed to deter climbing, visibility, or intrusion. Gates can be fortified with locks, electronic entry systems, or guards to control access through them, balancing the need for security with that of accessibility.
The functions of fences and gates also extend to symbolism and metaphor. Fences can symbolize barriers in relationships or barriers to progress, while gates often represent an opportunity or a transition from one state to another, such as "gateway to success."
Comparison Chart
Function
Acts as a barrier or boundary.
Provides a point of entry or exit.
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Form
Continuous structure.
Movable structure within a fence.
Material
Wood, metal, vinyl, etc.
Often matches the fence, includes additional components like hinges.
Symbolism
Barrier, privacy, protection.
Opportunity, transition, access.
Operation
Static, does not move.
Operable, can open and close.
Compare with Definitions
Fence
To engage in a strategic argument or debate.
The politicians seemed to fence rather than directly answer the questions.
Gate
A hinged barrier used to close an opening in a wall, fence, or hedge.
He pushed open the iron gate and walked into the courtyard.
Fence
A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length.Alternatives to fencing include a ditch (sometimes filled with water, forming a moat).
Gate
The part of an airport terminal where passengers board and disembark aircraft.
Flight 302 will be departing from gate 15.
Fence
A structure serving as an enclosure, a barrier, or a boundary, usually made of posts or stakes joined together by boards, wire, or rails.
Gate
A means of access or entry.
The garden gate led to a magical-looking pathway lined with flowers.
Fence
An adjustable guide with a flat edge used on a table saw and positioned parallel to the plane of the cutting attachment in order to keep the board properly positioned for the cut to be made at the correct distance from the board's edge.
Gate
To control the flow of people entering a place or event, ensuring order and security.
Security personnel gated the entrance to the concert to check tickets.
Fence
One who receives and sells stolen goods.
Gate
A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms includ yett and port.
Fence
A place where stolen goods are received and sold.
Gate
A structure that can be swung, drawn, or lowered to block an entrance or a passageway.
Fence
(Archaic) A means of defense; a protection.
Gate
An opening in a wall or fence for entrance or exit.
Fence
To surround or enclose with a fence or other barrier.
Gate
The structure surrounding such an opening, such as the monumental or fortified entrance to a palace or walled city.
Fence
To separate or keep out by means of a fence or other barrier
Fenced off one field from another.
Fenced out the deer from the garden.
Gate
A doorway or walkway in a terminal, as at an airport, through which passengers proceed when embarking or disembarking.
Fence
To sell (stolen goods) to a fence.
Gate
A waiting area inside a terminal, abutting such a doorway or walkway.
Fence
To ward off; keep away.
Gate
A means of access
The gate to riches.
Fence
To defend.
Gate
A mountain pass.
Fence
To practice the art or sport of fencing.
Gate
The total paid attendance or admission receipts at a public event
A good gate at the football game.
Fence
To avoid giving direct answers; hedge.
Gate
A device for controlling the passage of water or gas through a dam or conduit.
Fence
To act as a conduit for stolen goods.
Gate
The channel through which molten metal flows into a shaped cavity of a mold.
Fence
A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.
Gate
(Sports) A passage between two upright poles through which a skier must go in a slalom race.
Fence
(informal) Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.
Gate
A logic gate.
Fence
(by extension) The place whence such a middleman operates.
Gate
A path or way.
Fence
Skill in oral debate.
Gate
A particular way of acting or doing; manner.
Fence
The art or practice of fencing.
Gate
Chiefly British To confine (a student) to the grounds of a college as punishment.
Fence
A guard or guide on machinery.
Gate
(Electronics) To select part of (a wave) for transmission, reception, or processing by magnitude or time interval.
Fence
(figuratively) A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
Gate
To furnish with a gate
"The entrance to the rear lawn was also gated" (Dean Koontz).
Fence
A memory barrier.
Gate
A doorlike structure outside a house.
Fence
(transitive) To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
Gate
Doorway, opening, or passage in a fence or wall.
Fence
(transitive) To defend or guard.
Gate
Movable barrier.
The gate in front of the railroad crossing went up after the train had passed.
Fence
(transitive) To engage in the selling or buying of stolen goods.
Gate
Passageway (as in an air terminal) where passengers can embark or disembark.
Fence
To engage in the sport of fencing.
Gate
A location which serves as a conduit for transport, migration, or trade.
Fence
To jump over a fence.
Gate
The amount of money made by selling tickets to a concert or a sports event.
Fence
(intransitive) To conceal the truth by giving equivocal answers; to hedge; to be evasive.
Gate
(computing) A logical pathway made up of switches which turn on or off. Examples are and, or, nand, etc.
Fence
That which fends off attack or danger; a defense; a protection; a cover; security; shield.
Let us be backed with God and with the seas,Which he hath given for fence impregnable.
A fence betwixt us and the victor's wrath.
Gate
(electronics) The controlling terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).
Fence
An inclosure about a field or other space, or about any object; especially, an inclosing structure of wood, iron, or other material, intended to prevent intrusion from without or straying from within.
Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold.
Gate
In a lock tumbler, the opening for the stump of the bolt to pass through or into.
Fence
A projection on the bolt, which passes through the tumbler gates in locking and unlocking.
Gate
(metalworking) The channel or opening through which metal is poured into the mould; the ingate.
Fence
Self-defense by the use of the sword; the art and practice of fencing and sword play; hence, skill in debate and repartee. See Fencing.
Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,That hath so well been taught her dazzing fence.
Of dauntless courage and consummate skill in fence.
Gate
The waste piece of metal cast in the opening; a sprue or sullage piece. Also written geat and git.
Fence
A receiver of stolen goods, or a place where they are received.
Gate
(cricket) The gap between a batsman's bat and pad.
Singh was bowled through the gate, a very disappointing way for a world-class batsman to get out.
Fence
To fend off danger from; to give security to; to protect; to guard.
To fence my ear against thy sorceries.
Gate
(cinematography) A mechanism, in a film camera and projector, that holds each frame momentarily stationary behind the aperture.
Fence
To inclose with a fence or other protection; to secure by an inclosure.
O thou wall! . . . dive in the earth,And fence not Athens.
A sheepcote fenced about with olive trees.
Gate
(flow cytometry) A line that separates particle type-clusters on two-dimensional dot plots.
Fence
To make a defense; to guard one's self of anything, as against an attack; to give protection or security, as by a fence.
Vice is the more stubborn as well as the more dangerous evil, and therefore, in the first place, to be fenced against.
Gate
A tally mark consisting of four vertical bars crossed by a diagonal, representing a count of five.
Fence
To practice the art of attack and defense with the sword or with the foil, esp. with the smallsword, using the point only.
He will fence with his own shadow.
Gate
A way, path.
Fence
Hence, to fight or dispute in the manner of fencers, that is, by thrusting, guarding, parrying, etc.
They fence and push, and, pushing, loudly roar;Their dewlaps and their sides are bat ed in gore.
As when a billow, blown against,Falls back, the voice with which I fencedA little ceased, but recommenced.
Gate
(obsolete) A journey.
Fence
A barrier that serves to enclose an area
Gate
A street; now used especially as a combining form to make the name of a street e.g. "Briggate" (a common street name in the north of England meaning "Bridge Street") or Kirkgate meaning "Church Street".
Fence
A dealer in stolen property
Gate
Manner; gait.
Fence
Enclose with a fence;
We fenced in our yard
Gate
(transitive) To keep something inside by means of a closed gate.
Fence
Receive stolen goods
Gate
(transitive) To punish, especially a child or teenager, by not allowing them to go out.
Fence
Fight with fencing swords
Gate
To open a closed ion channel.
Fence
Surround with a wall in order to fortify
Gate
(transitive) To furnish with a gate.
Fence
Have an argument about something
Gate
(transitive) To turn (an image intensifier) on and off selectively as needed, or to avoid damage from excessive light exposure. See autogating.
Fence
A structure serving as an enclosure, barrier, or boundary.
They installed a tall fence around the perimeter of their property.
Gate
A large door or passageway in the wall of a city, of an inclosed field or place, or of a grand edifice, etc.; also, the movable structure of timber, metal, etc., by which the passage can be closed.
Fence
An individual who deals in stolen goods.
The thief sold the stolen jewelry to a fence downtown.
Gate
An opening for passage in any inclosing wall, fence, or barrier; or the suspended framework which closes or opens a passage. Also, figuratively, a means or way of entrance or of exit.
Knowest thou the way to Dover?Both stile and gate, horse way and footpath.
Opening a gate for a long war.
Fence
To separate or enclose with a fence for protection or to prevent escape.
The farmer fenced in the livestock to keep them from wandering off.
Gate
A door, valve, or other device, for stopping the passage of water through a dam, lock, pipe, etc.
Gate
The places which command the entrances or access; hence, place of vantage; power; might.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Gate
In a lock tumbler, the opening for the stump of the bolt to pass through or into.
Gate
The channel or opening through which metal is poured into the mold; the ingate.
Gate
A way; a path; a road; a street (as in Highgate).
I was going to be an honest man; but the devil has this very day flung first a lawyer, and then a woman, in my gate.
Gate
Manner; gait.
Gate
To supply with a gate.
Gate
To punish by requiring to be within the gates at an earlier hour than usual.
Gate
A door-like movable barrier in a fence or wall
Gate
A computer circuit with several inputs but only one output that can be activated by particular combinations of inputs
Gate
Total admission receipts at a sports event
Gate
Passageway (as in an air terminal) where passengers can embark or disembark
Gate
Supply with a gate;
The house was gated
Gate
Control with a valve or other device that functions like a gate
Gate
Restrict (school boys') movement to the dormitory or campus as a means of punishment
Gate
An electronic circuit with an output that depends on the combination of several inputs.
A logic gate processes binary input to produce a specific output.
Common Curiosities
Can fences be decorative as well as functional?
Yes, fences can be designed for aesthetic appeal while also serving their primary functions.
What is the main purpose of a fence?
A fence is meant to provide security, privacy, and to mark boundaries.
What kind of gate is best for security?
A sturdy, lockable gate made of metal with limited visibility is best for security.
What materials are commonly used for fences?
Fences are commonly made of wood, metal, vinyl, or chain link.
How does a gate function in an electronic circuit?
In electronics, a gate controls the flow of electricity and can perform basic logical functions.
How high can a fence be?
Fence height is often regulated by local ordinances, typically ranging from 3 to 6 feet for residential areas.
Can a gate be installed without a fence?
While possible, a gate is typically installed as part of a fence to control access.
Are gates always made of the same material as the fence?
Gates often match the fence but can also be made of complementary materials for aesthetic or functional reasons.
Do fences require maintenance?
Yes, fences require maintenance such as cleaning, painting, or staining to protect them from the elements.
What is a fence panel?
A fence panel is a pre-constructed section of a fence that can be installed between posts.
What is the best way to secure a gate?
Securing a gate can involve locks, padlocks, electronic keypads, or intercom systems.
Is it legal to fence any area?
Fencing is subject to local zoning laws and regulations; it's essential to obtain necessary permits.
Are there different types of gates for different uses?
Yes, there are various types of gates like swinging, sliding, automatic, and manual gates.
Can gates be automated?
Yes, gates can be fitted with motors and sensors for automatic opening and closing.
Do gates come in standard sizes?
Gates come in various sizes, but some common widths are 3, 4, and 5 feet for pedestrian gates and larger for driveways.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
