This article develops a novel low-profile meta-surface-based tripolarized antenna with complementary patterns for fifth-generation (5G) application. A shared aperture metasurface-based structure is first proposed, which is carefully studied by equivalent circuit models and field distribution. Then, to realize multiple polarization operation, the TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">10</sub> , antiphase TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">20</sub> , and TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">00</sub> modes are used and excited by suitable feeding networks. For horizontal polarization, wideband response is realized by coupling and combining the TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">10</sub> /TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">20</sub> dual modes. An inductance-loaded TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">00</sub> mode is displayed by loading the shorting vias on the metasurface, which is used to implement vertical polarization. Finally, a metasurface-based tripolarized antenna with a low profile of 0.04λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> ( λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> is the free space wavelength at 3.30 GHz) is fabricated. The overlapped 10-dB bandwidths for all excitations are from 3.26 to 3.84 GHz (16.3%) with isolation greater than 22 dB, which well covers the 5G-N78 band. The measured peak gain and radiation efficiency are larger than 10.3 dBi and -0.42 dB (90.8%), respectively. The results indicate that the proposed antenna with a low profile, a simple and low-cost configuration, multipolarization, good bandwidth, high radiation efficiency, and gain performance could be widely used in sub-6 GHz 5G communication systems.