Yearns for wife, we hear (6)
I believe the answer is:
misses
'yearns for' is the definition.
(yearning for someone can mean missing them)
'wife we hear' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'missus' (someone's missus is their wife).
'we hear' shows a homophone (sound like).
'missus' sounds like 'MISSES'.
(Other definitions for misses that I've seen before include "young women" , "Fails to hit the target" , "Unsuccessful attempts" , "Overlooks" , "Doesn't hit; young ladies" .)