If you can, avoid doing this. This explains why: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_create_variables_A1.2C_A2.2C....2CA10_in_a_loop.3F
Instead, make them fields of a structure. You can do something like this:
vars = struct(); %structure to hold your variables
ID = {'height' 'height' 'height' 'speed' 'speed'};
data = [10;10;7;2.4;2.1];
fields = unique(ID); %get variable names as field names
for k=1:length(fields), %for each unique variable
fld= fields{k}; %field name
tf = ismember(ID, fld); %which corresponding data
vars.(fld) = data(tf); %assign to field
end
vars.height; %height variables
vars.speed; %speed variables
