As king, love to be among the common people (5)
I believe the answer is:
herod
'common people' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'as king love to be among' is the wordplay.
'as' becomes 'hed' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'king' becomes 'R' (abbreviation for rex, king in Latin).
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'to be among' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are placed among others).
'r'+'o'='ro'
'hed' placed around 'ro' is 'HEROD'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for herod that I've seen before include "Cruel king" , "Biblical king of Judaea" , "Massacre-of-Innocents king" , "Christ was born in the reign of . . . . . the Great (5)" , "King of Judea who ordered the death of children under two in Bethlehem" .)