To Beckon
To Invite, To Cause
transitive verb, godan verb
Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means beckon so the verb vocab version is to beckon.
Since 招く conjures up the image of someone beckoning, it also means to invite, and is a relatively formal word. Figuratively, it can also mean to cause, as in inviting some undesirable outcome or situation.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you: You move to beckon your friend over. You can't see him well, so that's why you invite him to come closer. He is hiding something, and it turns out to be his long, luxurious horse mane (まね). Why does he have a mane!? Horse steroids?
今回のパーティーには、クライアントを百名招く予定です。
We plan to invite a hundred clients to this party.
人を手を使って招くことを「手招きする」って言うんですよ。
It's called "beckoning" to use your hands to invite people in.
彼をうちのCEOとして招くことができれば最高なんだけどな。
It would be great if we could invite him as our CEO.
え、インフレを招くのは円安だと思ってたんですが、円高がインフレを招くこともあるんですか？
Eh, I thought it was the weak yen that causes inflation, but can a strong yen can also cause inflation sometimes?
死者の霊魂を招く歌を作ってみた。
I wrote a song to summon the spirits of the dead.