A signal receiving method, an apparatus and a communication system. The network device determines a subcarrier location of a to-be-sent first signal and a subcarrier location of a to-be-sent second signal, where subcarriers occupied by the first signal are continuous subcarriers in a first group of resource elements, subcarriers occupied by the second signal are continuous subcarriers in a second group of resource elements, a quantity of the subcarriers occupied by the first signal is the same as a quantity of the subcarriers occupied by the second signal, and a subcarrier spacing in the first group of resource elements is different from a subcarrier spacing in the second group of resource elements, the first signal and the second signal are primary synchronization signals. The network device sends the first signal to the terminal device and sends the second signal to the terminal device or other terminal device.