This application provides a reference signal communication method and communication apparatus. The method includes determining a resource block offset of a frequency domain position of a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) based on a frequency domain density of the PTRS, an identifier of a terminal device, and a first bandwidth, in accordance with a ratio of the first bandwidth to the frequency domain density of the PTRS being a non-integer. The first bandwidth is a bandwidth scheduled by a network device for the terminal device. The method further includes sending or receiving the PTRS based on the resource block offset of the frequency domain position of the PTRS.