Appears to understand handwriting (5)

I believe the answer is:

seems

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'appears' is the definition.
('seem' can be a synonym of 'appear')

'understand handwriting' is the wordplay.
'understand' becomes 'see' (synonyms).
'handwriting' becomes 'ms' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'see'+'ms'='SEEMS'

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for seems that I've seen before include "Appears, looks" , "Gives a certain impression" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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