Weeping reportedly leads to rows (5)
I believe the answer is:
tiers
'rows' is the definition.
(tier is a kind of row)
'weeping reportedly' is the wordplay.
'weeping' becomes 'tears' (synonyms).
'reportedly' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'tears' sounds like 'TIERS'.
'leads to' is the link.
(Other definitions for tiers that I've seen before include "Layers, strata" , "Row upon row" , "Layers, levels" , "More than one bank" , "Tries (anag.)" .)