Let E be a Dirichlet form on L 2 (X ; µ) where (X, µ) is locally compact σ-compact measure space. Assume E is inner regular, i.e. regular in restriction to functions of compact support, and local in the sense that E(ϕ, ψ) = 0 for all ϕ, ψ ∈ D(E) with ϕ ψ = 0. We construct two Dirichlet forms E m and E M such that E m ≤ E ≤ E M . These forms are potentially the smallest and largest such Dirichlet forms. InWe analyze the family of local, inner regular, Dirichlet forms F which extend E and satisfy E m ≤ F ≤ E M . We prove that the latter bounds are valid if and only ifAs an application we show that if E and F are strongly local then the Ariyoshi-Hino set-theoretic distance is the same for each of the forms E, E M and F . If in addition E m is strongly local then it also defines the same distance. Finally we characterize the uniqueness condition E M = E m by capacity estimates.