Sentence:  At the end of work one day , the personnel man took the applicants one at a time , asked them to sit behind the receptionist 's desk and he then played the role of a <WSD>number</WSD> of people who might come to the receptionist with a number of queries and for a number of purposes . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals