diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index 26655cb..ed0e73d 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - Fixes https://github.com/structurizr/dsl/issues/324 (Groups with no curly braces breaks diagrams).
 - Adds a way to set the character encoding used by the DSL parser (see https://github.com/structurizr/dsl/issues/338).
 - Fixes https://github.com/structurizr/dsl/issues/336 (Dynamic View does not allow !script tag).
+- `!extend` can now be used instead of `!ref`.
 
 ## 1.32.0 (28th July 2023)
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParser.java b/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParser.java
index e882a6c..d9df9b1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParser.java
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 package com.structurizr.dsl;
 
-import com.structurizr.model.Element;
 import com.structurizr.model.ModelItem;
 import com.structurizr.model.StaticStructureElement;
 
 final class RefParser extends AbstractParser {
 
-    private static final String GRAMMAR = "!ref <identifier|canonical name>";
+    private static final String GRAMMAR = "%s <identifier|canonical name>";
 
     private final static int IDENTIFIER_INDEX = 1;
 
@@ -14,11 +13,11 @@ ModelItem parse(DslContext context, Tokens tokens) {
         // !ref <identifier|canonical name>
 
         if (tokens.hasMoreThan(IDENTIFIER_INDEX)) {
-            throw new RuntimeException("Too many tokens, expected: " + GRAMMAR);
+            throw new RuntimeException("Too many tokens, expected: " + String.format(GRAMMAR, tokens.get(0)));
         }
 
         if (!tokens.includes(IDENTIFIER_INDEX)) {
-            throw new RuntimeException("Expected: " + GRAMMAR);
+            throw new RuntimeException("Expected: " + String.format(GRAMMAR, tokens.get(0)));
         }
 
         String s = tokens.get(IDENTIFIER_INDEX);
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ ModelItem parse(DslContext context, Tokens tokens) {
         }
 
         if (modelItem == null) {
-            throw new RuntimeException("An element/relationship referenced by \"" + s + "\" could not be found");
+            throw new RuntimeException("An element/relationship identified by \"" + s + "\" could not be found");
         }
 
         if (context instanceof GroupableDslContext && modelItem instanceof StaticStructureElement) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslParser.java b/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslParser.java
index 874e6d7..c51e792 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslParser.java
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ void parse(List<String> lines, File dslFile) throws StructurizrDslParserExceptio
 
                         registerIdentifier(identifier, relationship);
 
-                    } else if (REF_TOKEN.equalsIgnoreCase(firstToken) && (inContext(ModelDslContext.class))) {
+                    } else if ((REF_TOKEN.equalsIgnoreCase(firstToken) || EXTEND_TOKEN.equalsIgnoreCase(firstToken)) && (inContext(ModelDslContext.class))) {
                         ModelItem modelItem = new RefParser().parse(getContext(), tokens.withoutContextStartToken());
 
                         if (shouldStartContext(tokens)) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslTokens.java b/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslTokens.java
index 3d76df6..814c24b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslTokens.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/structurizr/dsl/StructurizrDslTokens.java
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ class StructurizrDslTokens {
     static final String IDENTIFIERS_TOKEN = "!identifiers";
     static final String IMPLIED_RELATIONSHIPS_TOKEN = "!impliedRelationships";
     static final String REF_TOKEN = "!ref";
+    static final String EXTEND_TOKEN = "!extend";
     static final String PLUGIN_TOKEN = "!plugin";
     static final String SCRIPT_TOKEN = "!script";
 
diff --git a/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-file.dsl b/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-file.dsl
index 753a572..06e3ffc 100644
--- a/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-file.dsl
+++ b/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-file.dsl
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 workspace extends workspace.json {
 
     model {
-        // !ref with DSL identifier
-        !ref softwareSystem1 {
+        // !extend with DSL identifier
+        !extend softwareSystem1 {
             webapp1 = container "Web Application 1"
         }
 
-        // !ref with canonical name
-        !ref "SoftwareSystem://Software System 1" {
+        // !extend with canonical name
+        !extend "SoftwareSystem://Software System 1" {
             webapp2 = container "Web Application 2"
         }
 
diff --git a/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-url.dsl b/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-url.dsl
index 045bbee..e849123 100644
--- a/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-url.dsl
+++ b/src/test/dsl/extend/extend-workspace-from-json-url.dsl
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 workspace extends https://raw.githubusercontent.com/structurizr/dsl/master/src/test/dsl/extend/workspace.json {
 
     model {
-        // !ref with DSL identifier
-        !ref softwareSystem1 {
+        // !extend with DSL identifier
+        !extend softwareSystem1 {
             webapp1 = container "Web Application 1"
         }
 
-        // !ref with canonical name
-        !ref "SoftwareSystem://Software System 1" {
+        // !extend with canonical name
+        !extend "SoftwareSystem://Software System 1" {
             webapp2 = container "Web Application 2"
         }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParserTests.java b/src/test/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParserTests.java
index f38e730..10e0cf9 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParserTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/structurizr/dsl/RefParserTests.java
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package com.structurizr.dsl;
 
-import com.structurizr.model.Element;
 import com.structurizr.model.ModelItem;
 import com.structurizr.model.Person;
 import com.structurizr.model.Relationship;
@@ -15,7 +14,7 @@ class RefParserTests extends AbstractTests {
     @Test
     void test_parse_ThrowsAnException_WhenThereAreTooManyTokens() {
         try {
-            parser.parse(context(), tokens("ref", "name", "tokens"));
+            parser.parse(context(), tokens("!ref", "name", "tokens"));
             fail();
         } catch (Exception e) {
             assertEquals("Too many tokens, expected: !ref <identifier|canonical name>", e.getMessage());
@@ -25,27 +24,27 @@ void test_parse_ThrowsAnException_WhenThereAreTooManyTokens() {
     @Test
     void test_parse_ThrowsAnException_WhenTheIdentifierOrCanonicalNameIsNotSpecified() {
         try {
-            parser.parse(context(), tokens("ref"));
+            parser.parse(context(), tokens("!extend"));
             fail();
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            assertEquals("Expected: !ref <identifier|canonical name>", e.getMessage());
+            assertEquals("Expected: !extend <identifier|canonical name>", e.getMessage());
         }
     }
 
     @Test
     void test_parse_ThrowsAnException_WhenTheReferencedElementCannotBeFound() {
         try {
-            parser.parse(context(), tokens("ref", "Person://User"));
+            parser.parse(context(), tokens("!ref", "Person://User"));
             fail();
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            assertEquals("An element/relationship referenced by \"Person://User\" could not be found", e.getMessage());
+            assertEquals("An element/relationship identified by \"Person://User\" could not be found", e.getMessage());
         }
     }
 
     @Test
     void test_parse_FindsAnElementByCanonicalName() {
         Person user = workspace.getModel().addPerson("User");
-        ModelItem element = parser.parse(context(), tokens("ref", "Person://User"));
+        ModelItem element = parser.parse(context(), tokens("!ref", "Person://User"));
 
         assertSame(user, element);
     }
@@ -59,7 +58,7 @@ void test_parse_FindsAnElementByIdentifier() {
         register.register("user", user);
         context.setIdentifierRegister(register);
 
-        ModelItem modelItem = parser.parse(context, tokens("ref", "user"));
+        ModelItem modelItem = parser.parse(context, tokens("!ref", "user"));
         assertSame(modelItem, user);
     }
 
@@ -73,7 +72,7 @@ void test_parse_FindsARelationshipByIdentifier() {
         register.register("rel", relationship);
         context.setIdentifierRegister(register);
 
-        ModelItem modelItem = parser.parse(context, tokens("ref", "rel"));
+        ModelItem modelItem = parser.parse(context, tokens("!ref", "rel"));
         assertSame(modelItem, relationship);
     }