diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/1214-docker_container-ports.yml b/changelogs/fragments/1214-docker_container-ports.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8f5a3467
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/1214-docker_container-ports.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "docker_container - when the same port is mapped more than once for the same protocol without specifying an interface, a bug caused an invalid value to be passed for the interface
+     (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.docker/issues/1213, https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.docker/pull/1214)."
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/_module_container/docker_api.py b/plugins/module_utils/_module_container/docker_api.py
index fa66d23f..c9bcede8 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/_module_container/docker_api.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/_module_container/docker_api.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ from ansible_collections.community.docker.plugins.module_utils._common_api impor
     RequestException,
 )
 from ansible_collections.community.docker.plugins.module_utils._module_container.base import (
+    _DEFAULT_IP_REPLACEMENT_STRING,
     OPTION_AUTO_REMOVE,
     OPTION_BLKIO_WEIGHT,
     OPTION_CAP_DROP,
@@ -127,11 +128,6 @@ if t.TYPE_CHECKING:
     Sentry = object
 
 
-_DEFAULT_IP_REPLACEMENT_STRING = (
-    "[[DEFAULT_IP:iewahhaeB4Sae6Aen8IeShairoh4zeph7xaekoh8Geingunaesaeweiy3ooleiwi]]"
-)
-
-
 _SENTRY: Sentry = object()
 
 
@@ -2093,16 +2089,26 @@ def _preprocess_value_ports(
     if "published_ports" not in values:
         return values
     found = False
-    for port_spec in values["published_ports"].values():
-        if port_spec[0] == _DEFAULT_IP_REPLACEMENT_STRING:
-            found = True
-            break
+    for port_specs in values["published_ports"].values():
+        if not isinstance(port_specs, list):
+            port_specs = [port_specs]
+        for port_spec in port_specs:
+            if port_spec[0] == _DEFAULT_IP_REPLACEMENT_STRING:
+                found = True
+                break
     if not found:
         return values
     default_ip = _get_default_host_ip(module, client)
-    for port, port_spec in values["published_ports"].items():
-        if port_spec[0] == _DEFAULT_IP_REPLACEMENT_STRING:
-            values["published_ports"][port] = tuple([default_ip] + list(port_spec[1:]))
+    for port, port_specs in values["published_ports"].items():
+        if isinstance(port_specs, list):
+            for index, port_spec in enumerate(port_specs):
+                if port_spec[0] == _DEFAULT_IP_REPLACEMENT_STRING:
+                    port_specs[index] = tuple([default_ip] + list(port_spec[1:]))
+        else:
+            if port_specs[0] == _DEFAULT_IP_REPLACEMENT_STRING:
+                values["published_ports"][port] = tuple(
+                    [default_ip] + list(port_specs[1:])
+                )
     return values
 
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml b/tests/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml
index 95a59a78..4581ca9a 100644
--- a/tests/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml
+++ b/tests/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml
@@ -277,6 +277,58 @@
       - published_ports_2 is not changed
       - published_ports_3 is changed
 
+####################################################################
+## published_ports: duplicate ports ################################
+####################################################################
+
+- name: published_ports -- duplicate ports
+  community.docker.docker_container:
+    image: "{{ docker_test_image_alpine }}"
+    command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 10m"'
+    name: "{{ cname }}"
+    state: started
+    published_ports:
+      - 8000:80
+      - 10000:80
+  register: published_ports_1
+
+- name: published_ports -- duplicate ports (idempotency)
+  community.docker.docker_container:
+    image: "{{ docker_test_image_alpine }}"
+    command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 10m"'
+    name: "{{ cname }}"
+    state: started
+    published_ports:
+      - 8000:80
+      - 10000:80
+    force_kill: true
+  register: published_ports_2
+
+- name: published_ports -- duplicate ports (idempotency w/ protocol)
+  community.docker.docker_container:
+    image: "{{ docker_test_image_alpine }}"
+    command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 10m"'
+    name: "{{ cname }}"
+    state: started
+    published_ports:
+      - 8000:80/tcp
+      - 10000:80/tcp
+    force_kill: true
+  register: published_ports_3
+
+- name: cleanup
+  community.docker.docker_container:
+    name: "{{ cname }}"
+    state: absent
+    force_kill: true
+  diff: false
+
+- ansible.builtin.assert:
+    that:
+      - published_ports_1 is changed
+      - published_ports_2 is not changed
+      - published_ports_3 is not changed
+
 ####################################################################
 ## published_ports: IPv6 addresses #################################
 ####################################################################