the amount of water returning to the earth through precipitation is blank the amount of water leaving the earth through evaporation

The amount of water entering the earth through precipitation is equal to the amount of water leaving earth through transpiration.

Explanation:

Rates of precipitation and evaporation vary widely according to regions and seasons. But in a global scale the rates are equal. Thus the total amount of earth's water maintains its constancy even though there is a continuous change in forms of water.

Evaporation and transpiration are the forms in which Water leaves the earth and it returns to the earth in various forms of precipitation like rain, snow, dew, fog etc. This water then reaches ocean and land. The water that reaches the land flows as surface run off into rivers and water bodies or seep into the ground replenishing the ground water table.