The boards used for making gates? (5)
I believe the answer is:
stage
'the boards' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'making gates?' is the wordplay.
'making' indicates anagramming the letters.
'gates' is an anagram of 'STAGE'.
'used for' is the link.
(Other definitions for stage that I've seen before include "The boards" , "Present; part of journey" , "period" , "Dais" , "Leg; part of theatre" .)