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Photo of a windmill.

List of structures

Large (and not so large) things that people or animals build to use, to live in, and to look at.

Photo of a brick wall.
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Wis forWall

A wall is a vertical structure usually made from brick or stone. The sides of houses are called walls. Not all walls are part of a building, some are made as a fence around a garden or field. The main difference between a wall and a fence is usually that the wall is solid and the fence you can see through.
Photo of a stone well
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Wis forWell

A well is a deep hole that has been dug into the ground to reach water. You can use a bucket on the end of a piece of rope to get to the water, or you can use a pump or windmill to suck the water out.
Wind turbines are a type of windmill designed to make electricity. They are usually much, much taller than windmills. Wind turbines need to be built somewhere it is windy most of the time, and are usually built in remote or inhospitable areas. In some countries they build them in the sea.

Wis forWindmill

A windmill is a machine that is used to convert the energy from the wind blowing past into more useful energy. Windmills have several blades or sails that catch the wind as it goes past, and the sails turn around. Inside the windmill is other machinery that does useful work as the wind turns the sails outside. Windmills were used to mill grain into flour, hence their name. Windmills can also be used to pump water out of wells. More recently wind has been used to generate electricity. The version of the windmill that is used for this is called a wind turbine.
Photo of a window
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Wis forWindow

A window is a structure put through the side of a house so the people inside can see out. Windows are usually made of glass so that sunlight can get in but the cold and wind can't.
Photo of a yurt
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Yis forYurt

A yurt is a building made by people in Mongolia and nearby areas in central Asia. It is a round building with no central support inside, with the walls held together by tensioned rope and the walls covered by felt.
Photo of a modern ziggurat
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Zis forZiggurat

A ziggurat is a stepped pyramid. They were mostly built as temples in what is now Iran and Iraq. The picture is of a modern ziggurat.