- Gauge is commonly used in the context of railways, where "track or Rail gauge" means the distance between the inside edges of the two rails forming the track (eg standard gauge, narrow gauge) and "loading gauge" refers to the set of height and width profiles governing the maximum dimensions of railway vehicles.
- In engineering, gauge refers to a measure of width or thickness, or to devices used to make measurements eg. Feeler gauges (originally of width or thickness). It can also be used as a verb to describe the act of taking a measurement, typically an estimate.
- In metal sheeting, it refers to the thickness of the sheet.
- In jewellery, especially as applied to body piercing, gauge refers to the thickness of the metal that penetrates the body tissue. As a point of reference, the holes in pierced ears normally exhibit diameters of 20 or 18 gauge. with wire gauge measurements, the smaller the gauge number, the larger the diameter.
- In shotguns, "gauge" is related to the diameter (caliber) of the barrel. The gauge is determined by the number of solid spheres of a diameter equal to the inside diameter of the barrel that could be made from a pound of lead. It is more rarely used to refer to the internal dimensions of a cannon.