shortage vs dearth

shortage and dearth both are nouns.

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

As nouns, shortage and dearth are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of shortage include famine.

shortage (noun)	dearth (noun)
the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required	an insufficient quantity or number
an acute insufficiency	an acute insufficiency