diff --git a/src/spell.c b/src/spell.c
index a6581af..39b5b94 100644
--- a/src/spell.c
+++ b/src/spell.c
@@ -9251,7 +9251,7 @@
 			       'spellfile' */
     int		undo;	    /* TRUE for "zug", "zuG", "zuw" and "zuW" */
 {
-    FILE	*fd;
+    FILE	*fd = NULL;
     buf_T	*buf = NULL;
     int		new_spf = FALSE;
     char_u	*fname;