How can I make pages the default application for word (.doc) documents

Open a Finder window, highlight any Word document, click the File menu > Get Info (or command I key combination), then in the Info window "Open with" section change the app to Pages and click the "Change All" button.

Control-click one in the Finder, choose Get Info, specify the desired application in the Open With section, and press the Change All button.

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Pages v13.1 on Ventura 13.4.1 can only re-export Word documents as .docx now. It can open and translate the older .doc Word format, but as in any Pages opening operation on Word documents, it will translate the Word contents to what Pages internal document format supports, and ignore (or blow up) when it encounters features exclusive to Word.