Yes, approaches is a Scrabble word!

Verb

1. Move towards

2. Come near or verge on, resemble, come nearer in quality, or character

3. Begin to deal with

4. Come near in time

5. Make advances to someone, usually with a proposal or suggestion

Noun

1. Ideas or actions intended to deal with a problem or situation

2. The act of drawing spatially closer to something

3. A way of entering or leaving

4. The final path followed by an aircraft as it is landing

5. The event of one object coming closer to another

6. A tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others

7. The temporal property of becoming nearer in time

8. A close approximation

9. A relatively short golf shot intended to put the ball onto the putting green