Python - Performing different tasks based input() data-type

Question

Edit: This post differs from Asking the user for input until they give a valid response because I do not end the loop based on data type of the response. Both strings and integers are valid. The loop should only kick-back if the two entries are different data types.

I'm trying to collect either two words, or two integers via input(). If both values are integers I want to calculate answer1**answer2. If both are non-integers, I want to concatenate the strings. Finally, if the data-types do not match, I want to send the user to the beginning to enter two new values.

Here's my attempt. I apologize in advance for what you're about to see.

## collect first value
print("Please type a word or an integer:")
answer1 = input()

## check for blanks
if answer1 == "":
    print("Blank space detected. Please retry.")
    answer1 = input()

## collect second value
print("Please type another word or integer:")
answer2 = input()

## check for blanks
if answer2 == "":
    print("Blank space detected. Please retry.")
    answer2 = input()

## define test for integer status
def containsInt(intTest):
    try: 
        int(intTest)
        return True
    except ValueError:
        pass

## check for matching data types and produce final value
if containsInt(answer1) == True:
    containsInt(answer2)
    if containsInt(answer2) == True:
        finalInt = (int(answer1))**(int(answer2))
        print("\n")
        print(finalInt)
    else:
        print("Sorry, the data types must match - both words or integers.")
        continue
else:
    containsInt(answer2)
    if containsInt(answer2) !=True:
        print("\n")
        print(answer1 + answer2)
    else:
        print("Sorry, the data types must match - both words or integers.")
        continue

I tried to use "continue" to get it to go back to the beginning, but it becomes angry at me. You can probably tell I'm a complete newb, and this is my first post. Please don't rip on me too hard. :(

Answer 1

This should work:

while True:
    answer1 = input("Please type a word or an integer:")

    # check for blanks
    while answer1 == "":
        answer1 = input("Blank space detected. Please retry.")

    try:
        answer1 = int(answer1)
    except ValueError:
        pass

    answer2 = input("Please type another word or integer:")

    # check for blanks
    while answer2 == "":
        answer2 = input("Blank space detected. Please retry.")

    try:
        answer2 = int(answer2)
    except ValueError:
        pass

    if type(answer1) == type(answer2):
        if type(answer1) == str:
            print(answer1 + answer2)
            break
        elif type(answer1) == int:
            print(answer1**answer2)
            break
    else:
        print(f"Sorry, the data types of '{answer1}' and '{answer2}' do not match.")
        continue

Do note that if you input a number like 1.5 it will be treated as a string. so the inputs 1.5 and a will result in 1.5a