We consider a nonlinear periodic problem driven by a nonlinear nonhomogeneous differential operator and a Carathéodory reaction term $f(t,x)$ that exhibits a $(p-1)$-superlinear growth in $x \in \mathbb{R}$ near $\pm\infty$ and near zero. A special case of the differential operator is the scalar $p$-Laplacian. Using a combination of variational methods based on the critical point theory with Morse theory (critical groups), we show that the problem has three nontrivial solutions, two of which have constant sign (one positive, the other negative).