Grid-like and distance codes for representing word meaning in the human brain

•Conceptual knowledge is thought to be represented in our brain as a “cognitive map”.•Two signatures of cognitive maps are the grid-like code and the distance code.•We looked for them using fMRI while people processed the meaning of novel words referring to audiovisual objects.•We found a grid-like code in the entorhinal cortex and a distance code in medial prefrontal cortex.•Additionally, sensory regions represented the individual perceptual dimensions implied by word meanings.