Teaching the rambunctious group of canines at the obedience school was a great deal of work, but each instructor took a respite once the dogs were placed in their individual kennels.

Which word is closest in meaning to the underlined word?

vacation

beverage

payment

break

Break

Explanation:

In this sentence the word "respite" means a short period of rest or relief from a difficult or not pleasing activity. Here, teaching the canines was a difficult job, the text describes them as "rambunctious" which means they had a lot of energy and were hard to control. So when they were put in individual kennels the instructors were able to rest.

The word "break" is also used to describe a short period of time when someone rests, or change things done by some more pleasant ones. So the instructos had a break from training the dogs.