diff --git a/kuser/generate-requests.c b/kuser/generate-requests.c
index fab34d8f5..cb80dac2c 100644
--- a/kuser/generate-requests.c
+++ b/kuser/generate-requests.c
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ read_words (const char *filename, char ***ret_w)
     *ret_w = w;
     if (n == 0)
 	errx(1, "%s is an empty file, no words to try", filename);
+    fclose(f);
     return n;
 }