This application provides a reference signal sending method. The method includes: determining a resource set, where the resource set is used to carry a demodulation reference signal and downlink information, the downlink information is downlink control information or downlink data, the demodulation reference signal is used to demodulate the downlink information, the resource set includes a first time-frequency resource group and a second time-frequency resource group, the first time-frequency resource group is reserved time-frequency resources, and the second time-frequency resource group is used to carry the demodulation reference signal; determining a third time-frequency resource group based on a location of the second time-frequency resource group and an offset when the first time-frequency resource group and the second time-frequency resource group overlap, wherein the offset is determined according to a preset rule; and sending the demodulation reference signal by using the third time-frequency resource group.