\starttext

\enabledirectives[tabulate.linenumbers]

\startmixedcolumns
    \startlinenumbering
        \input ward
    \stoplinenumbering
    \column
    \startlinenumbering
        \input knuth
    \stoplinenumbering
\stopmixedcolumns

\starttabulate[|p|i3p|]
    \NC
        \startlinenumbering
            \input ward \par
        \stoplinenumbering
    \NC
        \startlinenumbering
            \input knuth \par
        \stoplinenumbering
    \NC
    \NR
\stoptabulate

\stoptext
