\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
<set-font>
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{multicol}
%\usepackage{printlen}
\newlength{\widthofword}
%\setlength{\textwidth}{18cm}
\setlength{\parindent}{0cm}
%\uselengthunit{mm}
\newcommand{\wordline}[1]%
{#1 & wl: \setlength{\widthofword}{\widthof{#1}}\the\widthofword\\}
\title{Useful Widths for Typesetting-CASL}
\author{Klaus L�ttich}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\verb.\textwidth. = \the\textwidth
<no-columns>\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{tabular}{l|l}
\hline
\input{generated_words}
\end{tabular}
<no-columns>\end{multicols}
\end{document}