shortness vs deficiency

shortness and deficiency both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
shortness	Yes	No	No	No
deficiency	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, deficiency is a hypernym of shortness; that is, deficiency is a word with a broader meaning than shortness:

Other hypernyms of shortness include lack, want.

shortness (noun)	deficiency (noun)
an abrupt discourteous manner	lack of an adequate quantity or number
the property of being shorter than average stature	the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable
the property of being of short temporal extent
the property of being of short spatial extent
the property of being truncated or short
the condition of being short of something