\documentclass[a4paper]{article}

<set-font>

\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}

\usepackage{german}

\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}