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"shortfall" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often deficit (7 letters).
Definitions
the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required
Word origin
Deverbal from fall short. By surface analysis, short + fall.
Used in a sentence
“Due to a shortfall in revenue, we will have to make some cuts.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Deficit”9 letters
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