小對話：

A: You come back so earlly. The party is boring? 你回來的這么早。舞會沒意思?

B: All the boys and girls were dancing at the party while I sat at a table alone, feeling like a fifth wheel. 晚會上，所有的男孩和女孩都在跳舞，只有我孤零零地坐在桌邊，感覺自己仿佛是一個多余的人。

雖然現在很多機車，特別是越野車的后面也會備上一個備用輪胎，但它們稱之為spare wheel,或者spare tyre. 而不能稱為the fifth wheel.

更多例句：

The chair is a fifth wheel, please take it away. 這把椅子是多余的，請把它搬走。

A mother-in-law on a honeymoon is a fifth wheel. 度蜜月時，丈母娘是個大電燈泡。

We decided to fire that worker, he was just a fifth wheel. 我們決定開除那個工人，他不過是個多余無用之人。

My son asked me to come help at his school track meet I felt fifth wheel when I got there: they already had enough people to help so I stood there feeling useless. 我的兒子要我在他學校開運動會的時候去幫忙。可是，我到了那里覺得自己似乎是多余的，他們已經有好多人在幫忙，我只好站在那里沒事干。”

有關the fifth wheel的用法我們暫時了解到這里，記得一定要和spare wheel進行區別。它們分別表示“無用的;局外人”和“備用輪胎”。