Variant IL-13 polypeptides are provided, which are engineered to have one or more of the following properties: (a) altered affinity for IL-13Rα2, relative to the native human IL-13 protein (b) altered affinity for IL-13Rα1 relative to the native human IL-13 protein (c) a disruption in the binding site for IL-4Rα relative to the native human IL-13 protein.