Java make one method return an int OR a string and require a String and a String or an int and a String

1. Yes, it's called method overloading.
2. No, you cannot return different return types from the same method. The best you can do is to return both and have the caller check which you've returned. i.e. create a tuple class to store the String and Integer: Tuple<String, Integer>, and return it from your method.

Yes, it's called method overloading. A method can only have one return type, but by overloading, each version of the method can have its own return type.

This is called Method Overloading. If you want your method to accept two strings or a string and an int:

public static String exampleMethod(String a, int b) {
    }

If you want it to accept two strings:

public static String exampleMethod(String a, String b) {
    }

etc... Unfortunately, one method cannot have two return types but when overloading, you can change the return type. For example:

 public static int exampleMethod(String a, int b) {
    }