<?php
ini_set('display_errors',1); // enable php error display for easy trouble shooting
error_reporting(E_ALL); // set error display to all

$db = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test", 'root', '');

$column_name = 'something1';
@column_name2 = 1234;
$id = 1;

// works not with the following set to 0. You can comment this line as 1 is default
$db->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, 1);

$sql = "
UPDATE test SET `column_name` = :column_name WHERE `id` = :id;
UPDATE test2 SET `column_name` = :column_name2 WHERE `id` =:id;
";

try {
    $stmt = $db->prepare($sql);
        $stmt->bindParam(':column_name', $column_name, PDO::PARAM_STR);
        $stmt->bindParam(':column_name', $column_name2, PDO::PARAM_INT);
        $stmt->bindParam(':id', $id, PDO::PARAM_INT);
    $stmt->execute();
        echo 'done';
} catch (PDOException $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    die();
}
?>