Writing instrument, comprising: - a housing for receiving a writing lead along a longitudinal axis, an operating side and a writing side, - an adjustment mechanism mounted in the housing with a guide sleeve and a cam pin concentrically arranged therein and spring-loaded along the longitudinal axis at the writing lead, which can be brought into engagement with one end of the writing lead, wherein the cam pin can be brought into at least two detent positions offset from one another along the longitudinal axis, and - a control arrangement with a resetting device, a freewheel which can be coupled to an operating unit arranged on the operating side and a cam sleeve coupled to the freewheel, wherein the cam sleeve has a sliding surface curved on one side for a contact surface of the cam pin, wherein the resetting device exerts a back-rotating force on the operating unit, wherein the freewheel is a first rotatably mounted body with a recess on the circumferential side and is operatively connected in certain regions to a second body which is rotatably mounted concentrically thereto, wherein a neutral position of the operating unit is in an angular range of the recess of the first rotatably mounted body of the freewheel, wherein one of the first rotatably mounted body and the second rotatably mounted body is freely rotatable relative to the other of the first body and the second body through the angular range about its longitudinal axis, characterized in that the operating unit is brought back into a neutral position after the writing lead has been actuated and latched, without influencing the control arrangement or the resetting device and changing the set position of the writing lead, and transmits rotation from the operating unit to the cam sleeve outside the angular range. - a housing for receiving a writing lead along a longitudinal axis, an operating side and a writing side, - an adjustment mechanism mounted in the housing with a guide sleeve and a cam pin concentrically arranged therein and spring-loaded along the longitudinal axis at the writing lead, which can be brought into engagement with one end of the writing lead, wherein the cam pin can be brought into at least two detent positions offset from one another along the longitudinal axis, and - a control arrangement with a resetting device, a freewheel which can be coupled to an operating unit arranged on the operating side and a cam sleeve coupled to the freewheel, - a control arrangement with a resetting device, a freewheel which can be coupled to an operating unit arranged on the operating side and a cam sleeve coupled to the freewheel, wherein the cam sleeve has a sliding surface curved on one side for a contact surface of the cam pin, wherein the resetting device exerts a back-rotating force on the operating unit, wherein the freewheel is a first rotatably mounted body with a recess on the circumferential side and is operatively connected in certain regions to a second body which is rotatably mounted concentrically thereto, wherein a neutral position of the operating unit is in an angular range of the recess of the first rotatably mounted body of the freewheel, wherein one of the first rotatably mounted body and the second rotatably mounted body is freely rotatable relative to the other of the first body and the second body through the angular range about its longitudinal axis, characterized in that the operating unit is brought back into a neutral position after the writing lead has been actuated and latched, without influencing the control arrangement or the resetting device and changing the set position of the writing lead, and transmits rotation from the operating unit to the cam sleeve outside the angular range.