A refillable pencil, in particular a soft lead pencil, has a sleeve-shaped shaft (1) with a front and a rear end, a pushing rod (3) coaxially arranged in the shaft (1) and fixed at one end to the rear en of the shaft, seen in the axial direction, a lead (5) joined to the free end of the pushing rod (3) and a sleeve-shaped front part (2) which encloses the lead (5) over at least part of its length. The front part co-operates with the shaft in the manner of a helical gear and can be retracted therein when rotated relative to the shaft (1). This soft lead pencil is characterised in that the lead (5) is rotatively joined to the pushing rod (3).