Microsoft Word on Mac: how do I close a window in Word while leaving Word open on the screen in order to open or create a new document?

It shouldn't do that. When I close the last open document, Word is still open. Unless you click somewhere else after closing the last open document, Word should still be the foreground app name at the top left of the screen.

MS Word continues to run with a Dock icon after you either File menu : Close, or click the red document titlebar icon to close the document in that manner. Unless you click on an existing other application window, or launch a different application, then the Word application remains on the menu bar where you can still File menu : New From Template… to create a new document.

Tested: Word 16.73 on macOS 13.4.

Glad you got it sorted.

It is a bit confusing since it's the document window that has the ribbon. When you close the last one, there doesn't seem to be anything left. But if you haven't clicked anywhere else and you look to the top left of the screen, you'll see Word as the active foreground app next to the Apple logo.

That means Word didn't close, which is normal for most apps on a Mac. When you close the last open document, you should be able to go directly to Command+N to start a new doc.

When you click on Word on the Dock after closing the last document, is there a dot beneath the icon?