famine vs shortage

famine and shortage both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
famine	Yes	No	No	No
shortage	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, famine and shortage are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of famine include dearth.

famine (noun)	shortage (noun)
a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death	the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required
an acute insufficiency	an acute insufficiency