When should I use Lists vs Menus in Material-UI?

Question

I'm having trouble figuring out the difference between Lists and Menus in Material-UI.

Docs

Lists - https://material-ui-next.com/demos/lists/

Menus - https://material-ui-next.com/demos/menus/

Description

My thinking is that Menus are used for routing and navigation while Lists are used for configuration or static content, but then I saw these quotes:

Menus appear upon interaction with a button, action, or other control. They display a list of choices, with one choice per line.

Reading this, Menus aren't intended to always show, they're designed to be hidden and only shown temporarily.

Menus should not be used as a primary method for navigation within an app.

This makes it seem like a sidebar with a list of navigation elements should be a List. If so, what if I take the same component and want to also use it in a dropdown menu? Do I have to make a separate component using Menu components?

Question

Since the docs are unclear to me, what instances would I want to use Menus vs Lists?

Answer 1

These components follow the Material Design standards, so their intended use would follow the standards.

For Menu:

Menus display a list of choices on a transient sheet of material.

For List:

Lists present multiple line items vertically as a single continuous element.

So while they're similar, I think the key difference is that Menu is intended for a transient selection, presented within something like a Dialog or Modal.