Now I do not know anything about Excel, but it seems it ought to be
easier to open a Word _table_ in Excel with little or no fiddling; and
you can convert either of your lists (the comma-delimited one or the
semicolon-delimited one) by simply selecting the text, and then
choosing from the Insert tab "Insert Table," and then choose "Convert
Text to Table," and then tell it to make 1 column, and use , or ; as
the point to start each new cell.