Abstract: To address the issue of positioning deviations or failures in fault location of multi-terminal distribution lines of traditional electromagnetic time reversal location methods, a fault location method for multi-terminal distribution networks combining natural frequency and electromagnetic time reversal is proposed. Firstly, the principal component values of natural frequency of fault signals are extracted by using the variational mode decomposition algorithm and the multiple single classification algorithm. Then, the location of the fault section is determined based on the proposed principle of fault section location for multi-terminal distribution networks. Finally, the fault precise location is conducted by using the electromagnetic time reversal method based on single-end direct convolution according to the proposed port selection strategy. The simulation results show that the comprehensive positioning error of the proposed method under different fault conditions is within 41 meters, and an RG-58 coaxial cable test model is constructed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results of this study can provide new insights for the application of existing electromagnetic time reversal methods in fault location of multi-terminal distribution networks.