A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving signals using a codebook which maps each codeword to at least two different antennas is provided for a MIMO system. A transmission method includes mapping multiple codewords to multiple layers; mapping the multiple layers to multiple antennas using a precoding matrix selected from a rank-3 codebook which is designed to map the codewords to different antennas; and transmitting the codewords through paths formed by mapping the layers and the antennas. The precoding matrix of the rank-3 codebook is designed to equalize transmit power ratios between the antennas. The communication method and apparatus is advantageous to solve the problem of transmit power imbalance among the layers and the problem of performance degradation at the high SNR region in the conventional system using the rank-3 precoding matrices.