The municipality lies on the Traunbach in the Schwarzwälder Hochwald (forest) in the Hunsrück near the boundary with the Saarland.

Also belonging to Ellweiler are the outlying homesteads of Haumbach, Neubrücker Mühle and Steinautal.

The elk's attire (that is, antler) is a canting charge for the German word Elch, meaning “(Eurasian) elk” (that is to say, “moose”), which is taken to be the source of the first syllable in the village's name (the Weiler part means “hamlet”, but there is no canting charge for that).

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[5] To the southeast run Bundesstraße 41 and the Autobahn A 62 (Kaiserslautern–Trier).

Smaller uranium deposits were also found 650 m northwest of the Bühlskopf on the northeast slope of “Der Stein” as well as in a couple of places near Nohfelden.