An emulsion ink for stencil printing is provided, which is high in transparency and does not hide previously a printed pattern when it is overlaid or printed on the pattern so as to facilitate multicolor printing with conventional stencil printing machines. The emulsion ink comprises an oil phase and a water phase and contains in the oil phase a coloring pigment together with an extending pigment that is insoluble in the oil phase, in which the ink has an optical density value of 1.0 or more as measured by a reflection densitometer when the ink is applied and dried in a thickness of 50 .mu.m onto a transparent sheet placed on a black standard board, and in which the ink has an optical density value of 0.7 or less as measured by the reflection densitometer when the transparent sheet is placed on a white standard board. Preferably, the coloring pigment constitutes 0.02 to 1%, and the extending pigment constitutes 1 to 5% by weight, of the total weight of the ink.