Devise is the term traditionally used when a will gives away land or buildings. The person receiving it is a devisee, and the verb form still appears in drafting — "I devise my residence at..." — even in states where the technical distinction has been abandoned. Its counterpart was bequest, used for everything that was not real property.
The separation existed because real property and personal property once passed through entirely different legal channels, with different courts and different rules of inheritance. That structural split has dissolved in American law, and most modern statutes define devise broadly enough to cover any testamentary gift.
Where real estate still behaves differently is in administration rather than vocabulary. Land is governed by the law of the state where it sits, not where you lived, so a vacation property across a state line can require a separate ancillary probate proceeding. A devise of out-of-state real estate quietly commits your executor to two court processes instead of one.
How the property is titled also outranks the devise. If the house is held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or sits in a trust, or carries a transfer-on-death deed in a state that permits them, it passes by that mechanism and the devise in your will has nothing to operate on.