This application provides a reference signal sending method, a reference signal receiving method, an apparatus, and a device, to provide a reference signal sending or receiving mechanism. A first network device determines at least one frequency reference point. The first network device generates a reference signal based on the at least one frequency reference point, and sends the reference signal in the first frequency band. A frequency reference point is determined based on a frequency band. In this case, both the first network device that sends the reference signal and a second network device that receives the reference signal may determine the frequency reference point based on the frequency band, and the two network devices may determine a same reference signal at a same frequency domain location, so that the reference signal sent by the first network device can be correctly detected by the second network device.