Tool use and language are two highly refined human abilities which may have co-evolved, thus resulting in neural commonalities. We recently provided evidence for shared neural resources between tool use and syntax. However, the debate is still open on whether semantics and phonology also recruit neurofunctional supplies common to tool use. Here we tested the hypothesis that activity within the tool-use network contributes to semantic and phonological neural representations. To this aim, we identified the tool-use network with fMRI while participants used pliers. The same participants underwent, a semantic and a phonological task to evidence the underlying networks. Through a series of representational similarity analyses we tested whether activity in tool-use clusters contributed to neural representations of semantic and phonological stimuli. The results revealed that semantic activity patterns within the left inferior frontal gyrus and left occipitotemporal cortex, activated by tool use, displayed significant similarity between nouns belonging to the same semantic category. Activity in tool-use related areas therefore contributes to semantics. By contrast, no significant relationship was observed for the activity patterns elicited by phonological stimuli. These findings suggest that semantics is grounded within the tool-use network, reinforcing the hypothesis of a functional link between semantics and tool use.