diff --git a/src/vs/editor/common/cursor/cursorTypeEditOperations.ts b/src/vs/editor/common/cursor/cursorTypeEditOperations.ts
index e250bb74431..d1290a3e651 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/common/cursor/cursorTypeEditOperations.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/common/cursor/cursorTypeEditOperations.ts
@@ -664,15 +664,15 @@ export class PasteOperation {
 	}
 
 	private static _distributePasteToCursors(config: CursorConfiguration, selections: Selection[], text: string, pasteOnNewLine: boolean, multicursorText: string[]): string[] | null {
-		if (pasteOnNewLine) {
-			return null;
-		}
 		if (selections.length === 1) {
 			return null;
 		}
 		if (multicursorText && multicursorText.length === selections.length) {
 			return multicursorText;
 		}
+		if (pasteOnNewLine) {
+			return null;
+		}
 		if (config.multiCursorPaste === 'spread') {
 			// Try to spread the pasted text in case the line count matches the cursor count
 			// Remove trailing \n if present
diff --git a/src/vs/editor/common/viewModel/viewModelImpl.ts b/src/vs/editor/common/viewModel/viewModelImpl.ts
index f41a32c7995..284bbc487a4 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/common/viewModel/viewModelImpl.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/common/viewModel/viewModelImpl.ts
@@ -959,33 +959,20 @@ export class ViewModel extends Disposable implements IViewModel {
 			}
 		}
 
-		if (!hasNonEmptyRange) {
+		if (!hasNonEmptyRange && !emptySelectionClipboard) {
 			// all ranges are empty
-			if (!emptySelectionClipboard) {
-				return '';
-			}
-
-			const modelLineNumbers = modelRanges.map((r) => r.startLineNumber);
-
-			let result = '';
-			for (let i = 0; i < modelLineNumbers.length; i++) {
-				if (i > 0 && modelLineNumbers[i - 1] === modelLineNumbers[i]) {
-					continue;
-				}
-				result += this.model.getLineContent(modelLineNumbers[i]) + newLineCharacter;
-			}
-			return result;
+			return '';
 		}
 
 		if (hasEmptyRange && emptySelectionClipboard) {
-			// mixed empty selections and non-empty selections
+			// some (maybe all) empty selections
 			const result: string[] = [];
 			let prevModelLineNumber = 0;
 			for (const modelRange of modelRanges) {
 				const modelLineNumber = modelRange.startLineNumber;
 				if (modelRange.isEmpty()) {
 					if (modelLineNumber !== prevModelLineNumber) {
-						result.push(this.model.getLineContent(modelLineNumber));
+						result.push(this.model.getLineContent(modelLineNumber) + newLineCharacter);
 					}
 				} else {
 					result.push(this.model.getValueInRange(modelRange, forceCRLF ? EndOfLinePreference.CRLF : EndOfLinePreference.TextDefined));
diff --git a/src/vs/editor/test/browser/controller/cursor.test.ts b/src/vs/editor/test/browser/controller/cursor.test.ts
index 47b7dd7b5a2..61ddc81e06d 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/test/browser/controller/cursor.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/test/browser/controller/cursor.test.ts
@@ -2239,6 +2239,37 @@ suite('Editor Controller', () => {
 		});
 	});
 
+	test('issue #256039: paste from multiple cursors with empty selections and multiCursorPaste full', () => {
+		usingCursor({
+			text: [
+				'line1',
+				'line2',
+				'line3'
+			],
+			editorOpts: {
+				multiCursorPaste: 'full'
+			}
+		}, (editor, model, viewModel) => {
+			// 2 cursors on lines 1 and 2
+			viewModel.setSelections('test', [new Selection(1, 1, 1, 1), new Selection(2, 1, 2, 1)]);
+
+			viewModel.paste(
+				'line1\nline2\n',
+				true,
+				['line1\n', 'line2\n']
+			);
+
+			// Each cursor gets its respective line
+			assert.strictEqual(model.getValue(), [
+				'line1',
+				'line1',
+				'line2',
+				'line2',
+				'line3'
+			].join('\n'));
+		});
+	});
+
 	test('issue #3071: Investigate why undo stack gets corrupted', () => {
 		const model = createTextModel(
 			[
diff --git a/src/vs/editor/test/browser/viewModel/viewModelImpl.test.ts b/src/vs/editor/test/browser/viewModel/viewModelImpl.test.ts
index 8afa07a8b56..c5ae0e5ac9c 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/test/browser/viewModel/viewModelImpl.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/test/browser/viewModel/viewModelImpl.test.ts
@@ -198,7 +198,27 @@ suite('ViewModel', () => {
 				new Range(3, 2, 3, 2),
 			],
 			true,
-			'line2\nline3\n'
+			[
+				'line2\n',
+				'line3\n'
+			]
+		);
+	});
+
+	test('issue #256039: getPlainTextToCopy with multiple cursors and empty selections should return array', () => {
+		// Bug: When copying with multiple cursors (empty selections) with emptySelectionClipboard enabled,
+		// the result should be an array so that pasting with "editor.multiCursorPaste": "full"
+		// correctly distributes each line to the corresponding cursor.
+		// Without the fix, this returns 'line2\nline3\n' (a single string).
+		// With the fix, this returns ['line2\n', 'line3\n'] (an array).
+		assertGetPlainTextToCopy(
+			USUAL_TEXT,
+			[
+				new Range(2, 1, 2, 1),
+				new Range(3, 1, 3, 1),
+			],
+			true,
+			['line2\n', 'line3\n']
 		);
 	});
 
@@ -222,7 +242,7 @@ suite('ViewModel', () => {
 				new Range(3, 2, 3, 2),
 			],
 			true,
-			['ine2', 'line3']
+			['ine2', 'line3\n']
 		);
 	});
 
@@ -259,7 +279,10 @@ suite('ViewModel', () => {
 				new Range(3, 2, 3, 2),
 			],
 			true,
-			'line2\nline3\n'
+			[
+				'line2\n',
+				'line3\n'
+			]
 		);
 	});