The effects of contact configuration and kinematic motion on the wear of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) were investigated. Two different contact configurations were adopted for wear testing under the two different kinematic motions with un-irradiated UHMWPE specimens. Wear of UHMWPE pins against the linear reciprocating stainless steel disks was 8% higher than that against the uni-directional repeat pass rotating disks. Wear of UHMWPE disks moving in the linear reciprocating motion against stainless steel ball was 37% higher than that moving in the uni-directional repeat pass rotating motion. The results in this study show that the contact configuration and kinematic motion of sliding definitely affect the wear of UHMWPE through the differences in the contact stress states of UHMWPE.