Approaches a listener in different ways (5)
I believe the answer is:
nears
'approaches' is the definition.
(I know this)
'a listener in different ways' is the wordplay.
'a listener' becomes 'ear' (body part which hears or listens).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'different ways' becomes 'ns' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ear' inserted within 'ns' is 'NEARS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nears that I've seen before include "is approaching" , "Approaches - snare (anag)" , "advances" , "Moves towards" , "Uses snare to get closer" .)